By Emma Reynolds 
Boom! There it is! That fiery shockwave streaking across your Instagram feed isn’t a new filter or a sizzling viral challenge. It’s a bombshell revelation from the head honcho of Instagram, Adam Mosseri. Our beloved photo-sharing platform, it seems, is pulling the strings behind the scenes, reducing video quality for those posts that aren’t quite the belle of the ball.
When you think about it, it’s like Instagram is playing favorites at a high school prom. The popular kids (the posts with high engagement) get the limelight, the best lighting, and the first pick of refreshments. Meanwhile, the wallflowers (posts with fewer views) are left in the shadows, nursing their lukewarm punch, their potential overlooked.
But what does this mean for you, the everyday Instagram user? For starters, it might explain why your last culinary masterpiece – a perfectly frosted cupcake, a lovingly prepared plate of pasta – didn’t quite capture the lusciousness you saw in real life. Or why your miniature poodle, despite its adorableness, looked less than HD in your latest video post. Instagram’s algorithm had decided it wasn’t worthy of the quality it truly deserved.
From a business perspective, this move might seem logical. Social media platforms, after all, thrive on engagement. The more likes, comments, and shares a post gets, the more visibility it gets, and ultimately, the more ad revenue it generates. It’s a real-world version of survival of the fittest, where only the most engaging content is allowed to flourish.
However, this practice also raises a few eyebrows. Is it fair for Instagram to decide which posts deserve high quality and which don’t? And does this practice discourage content diversity and encourage a homogeneous, popularity-driven culture? In a digital world where we’re constantly striving for equality and fairness, these are questions worth pondering.
We might not have all the answers yet, but this revelation certainly puts Instagram’s practices under the microscope. It’s a stark reminder that our online experiences, as personalized and unique as they may seem, are still largely shaped by the invisible hands of algorithms.
So, the next time you post a video on Instagram, remember, you’re not just battling for likes or comments. You’re vying for quality, for visibility. And in this digital arena, it’s not just about capturing the perfect moment. It’s also about playing the game, understanding the rules, and making the algorithm work for you.