Instagram Is QVC 2.0 ⇥ om.co

Meta, which still publishes at fb.com for some reason:

When you’re chatting with a qualified small business on Instagram, you’ll now be able to make purchases without leaving the chat. For example, if you’re interested in a backpack, all you have to do is send a message to the business about the one you love. From there, you can chat about customizations — like adding your initials — and then place your order right in the chat. In that same chat thread, you’ll also be able to track your order and ask the business any follow-up questions. Finally, you’ll be able to use Meta Pay to complete purchases, making checkout even easier in just a few taps. And you can shop with confidence knowing that your payments are securely processed and your purchases are protected.

This, among a laundry list of other changes, has led Om Malik to declare “Instagram is dead”:

What’s left is a constantly mutating product that copies features from whatever popular service — Snapchat, TikTok, or whatever. It is all about marketing and pushing substandard products and mediocre services pushed by influencers with less depth than a sheet of paper.

It has become QVC 2.0.

The first explanation actually makes the most sense for Instagram’s post-acquisition history and its near future. It is increasingly clear Meta has no clue what to do to make Instagram better, so it treats it as an empty shell into which it pours its clone of the latest trend. Meta has no vision for Instagram. The social network has served its purpose to grow a captive user base; now, every corner and every page is being wrung for every dollar it contains. There are more ads, more ways to buy stuff, and more opportunities for people with large audiences to monetize.

Seriously — what does Instagram look like a decade from now? Who is its target audience? What is it for? Does Adam Mosseri have any idea? Is this something we can only know when we see whatever app is trendy nine years from now?

Craig Mod [sic]:

instagram but just for looking at photographs

That sounds nice.