I remember a brief period shortly after Instagram introduced in-feed advertisements when I was getting mostly travel ads that consisted of well-composed scenic landscapes and cityscapes and sponsored nature photos. Which…well, was fine! They blended in with all the scenic and nature photographers I was following! I almost hit “like” on a few!

Back in 2017, I wasn’t sure whether to be disturbed, or to look at it in terms of XKCD’s idea of constructive spambots. (Mission accomplished? Maybe, but looking back from today, that’s basically what “generative AI” does, and it turns out it’s still disturbing.)

It’s probably the only time I’ve come close to appreciating targeted advertising. It was possible to use just context and not full behavioral surveillance, and it actually surfaced something worth seeing.

That said, I never clicked through to arrange a trip through any of the posts. Apparently, it was ineffective across the board, because as I mentioned, that period was brief. (Targeted advertising doesn’t work as well as its proponents claim, and oh how I wish it hadn’t become the standard method of paying for online services.)

By 2019 I was seeing big box stores and fast food, crackers and cold medicine, movie posters, brand logos and slogans. They weren’t even trying. It was fully Facebook-ified, they were mining as much of my data as they possibly could, and this was the best they could do? Plus, by then they’d also tweaked the feed algorithm to push more ads, more sponsored posts, more allegedly-popular posts instead of the pictures from friends and photographers I wanted to see. In short, it no longer sparked joy.

Instagram had the chance to be like a magazine, with ads that at least align with the content, but the more Facebook tried to monetize it, the more jarring and blatant the ads became, and the more they were based on what Facebook thinks it knows about you instead of trying to fit with your actual interests based on what’s posted by the people you’re following.

That’s around the time I mostly shifted to Pixelfed for casual photo sharing. I cross-posted for a while, but eventually deleted my account after leaving it unused for several years. Since then I’ve moved from Pixelfed to a compatible self-hosted site.

From what I’ve read, Instagram has continued to double-down on shoveling ads/sponsored content/influencers (now with more AI!) since then. I haven’t felt like dipping my toe back in. Though I have on occasion tried to visit some local business’ online presence only to discover that all they have is an Instagram account…which I can’t see because Instagram hates the open web (and always has, even before Facebook bought them).

And yet I’m still on Flickr. As much as it lost its way during the Yahoo years, it never stopped being about the photos.