Seriously? I must politely say that if you’re not willing to take a few seconds to think about improving your image & possibly giving it a caption, I likely don’t need to see it.
I don’t accept that simply maximizing active use, consumption, etc. is an unquestionable good. (That’s how cancers operate.) You want quality, and if Instagram further reduced friction (e.g. by enabling batch upload from desktop apps), it would turn into an unwashed Facebook stream.
Instagram makes me a better photographer in that it induces me to slow down just a tiny bit & try to craft an image/caption pair that my audience will like (literally). It’s an incredibly simple form of gamification, and dang if it doesn’t work.
From one perspective it works. From another it encourages people to never share a well-framed, honest photo without first junking it up with a cliche effect. Progress? I think not.
Truly cannot believe I’m reading this “if Instagram further reduced friction (e.g. by enabling batch upload from desktop apps)” here. Maybe the better Adobe option would be to finally revamp the Filters menu in Photoshop …? – so that “way-better-than-Instagram” effects were directly available on the desktop.
I think instagram enables capture joyful moments and leave them with the face of what we feel at that moment. It’s easy, pleasant and caters for all photographers, amateurs and professionals who are in your spare time … simple like that ;
Instagram, for the “look at me” generation.
Make it stop…
Here’s half a solution: http://tinyurl.com/cjodxap
I think friction, in the sense of having to put to some thought or effort into doing/mastering things is actually good idea in some areas. It sorts the weak from the chaff [so to speak].
Without this we’d be inundated by rubbish photos and people who think they are DJs because they have Spotify. Oh damn too late!
People seem to think they don’t have to bother learning about basics as software can do that for you these days. And if you are good at something like say photography, then it’s because you have a nice camera and/or a copy of Photoshop, not that you actually have any innate talent.
I am sorry, but “quality” is not one of the properties i associate with photos on instagram.
Yes, some probably are quality shots. But the mean image on instagram strikes me as boring and uninspired.
[Maybe you need to follow better people. 🙂 –J.]