WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.919 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are, 00:00:03.040 --> 00:00:06.839 we're not just talking about an app. No, not 00:00:06.839 --> 00:00:09.320 at all. We are talking about, I think, a cultural 00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:11.880 operating system. I was looking at the notes 00:00:11.880 --> 00:00:14.660 for this and it really hit me. We're discussing 00:00:14.660 --> 00:00:17.899 a piece of software that lightly sits on the 00:00:17.899 --> 00:00:20.140 home screen of almost every single person listening 00:00:20.140 --> 00:00:22.300 to this right now. Absolutely. But calling it 00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:25.170 software, I mean... It feels almost insufficient 00:00:25.170 --> 00:00:27.350 at this point. It really does. It's a platform 00:00:27.350 --> 00:00:29.129 that didn't just change how we take pictures. 00:00:29.230 --> 00:00:33.310 It fundamentally rewired how we communicate, 00:00:33.590 --> 00:00:36.490 how we perceive our own bodies, and you could 00:00:36.490 --> 00:00:39.549 argue how we process reality itself. Yeah. We 00:00:39.549 --> 00:00:41.229 are, of course, talking about Instagram. And 00:00:41.229 --> 00:00:43.329 it is, I mean, it's almost impossible to overstate 00:00:43.329 --> 00:00:45.469 the magnitude of this platform. If you look at 00:00:45.469 --> 00:00:47.820 the sort of... cultural anthropology of the last 00:00:47.820 --> 00:00:50.780 15 years, Instagram is the dominant thread. Right. 00:00:50.899 --> 00:00:53.899 It shifted the entire internet from a text based 00:00:53.899 --> 00:00:57.259 medium, you know, blogs, status updates to a 00:00:57.259 --> 00:01:01.840 purely visual one. It created entirely new economies 00:01:01.840 --> 00:01:05.280 from scratch. The influencer economy, the creator 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.579 economy, these things, they just didn't exist 00:01:07.579 --> 00:01:10.219 in this form before. And now sitting here in 00:01:10.219 --> 00:01:13.519 2026, it finds itself at the center of these 00:01:13.519 --> 00:01:16.540 massive global debates. about mental health, 00:01:16.659 --> 00:01:19.780 about censorship, and the very fabric of democracy. 00:01:20.120 --> 00:01:22.480 And the sheer scale of it is just, it's mind 00:01:22.480 --> 00:01:25.760 -boggling. We are talking about something that 00:01:25.760 --> 00:01:28.780 started as a tiny, kind of confused startup in 00:01:28.780 --> 00:01:32.019 San Francisco with a handful of people. And now, 00:01:32.040 --> 00:01:35.060 under the ownership of Meta, it has billions 00:01:35.060 --> 00:01:37.019 of users. I mean, it's influencing elections. 00:01:37.159 --> 00:01:39.340 It's dictating beauty standards across continents. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:41.439 And as we're going to see, it is constantly shape 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:43.590 -shifting to keep our attention. That evolution 00:01:43.590 --> 00:01:45.530 is what we really want to focus on today. I mean, 00:01:45.530 --> 00:01:47.250 this isn't just a history lesson. Our mission 00:01:47.250 --> 00:01:49.629 for this deep dive is to really unpack the trajectory. 00:01:49.829 --> 00:01:51.209 Exactly. We're going to look at the history, 00:01:51.290 --> 00:01:52.989 yes, but we also want to look under the hood 00:01:52.989 --> 00:01:55.390 at the hidden mechanics, you know, the algorithms 00:01:55.390 --> 00:01:57.810 and the psychology that keep us scrolling. And 00:01:57.810 --> 00:02:00.409 the controversies. We have to look at the controversies 00:02:00.409 --> 00:02:02.750 that have plagued the platform from the mental 00:02:02.750 --> 00:02:06.290 health crisis to all the allegations of censorship. 00:02:06.409 --> 00:02:08.650 And we are going all the way up to the present 00:02:08.650 --> 00:02:11.409 day. We're looking at the major updates from 00:02:11.409 --> 00:02:17.750 2025. Yeah, we've got a massive stack of source 00:02:17.750 --> 00:02:20.729 material here. We're pulling from extensive documentation 00:02:20.729 --> 00:02:24.050 of Instagram's history, records of their future 00:02:24.050 --> 00:02:27.270 rollouts, legal filings from their many, many 00:02:27.270 --> 00:02:30.069 battles. And some very, very revealing internal 00:02:30.069 --> 00:02:33.150 research leaks. Yes. It is a really comprehensive 00:02:33.150 --> 00:02:37.439 look at how a simple photo app became... for 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:40.120 lack of a better word, a global superpower. So 00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:42.240 let's do it. Let's rewind the clock. Let's go 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:44.259 back to the very, very beginning. Okay. Because 00:02:44.259 --> 00:02:46.479 before it was the polished billion -dollar giant 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:49.620 we know today, it was actually a clunky little 00:02:49.620 --> 00:02:52.000 prototype called Bourbon. Chuckles. Bourbon, 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.199 yes. And no, that is not a typo. It was spelled 00:02:54.199 --> 00:02:58.060 B -U -R -B -N. Right. This was 2010. Kevin Systrom 00:02:58.060 --> 00:03:00.099 and Mike Krieger were the founders, and they 00:03:00.099 --> 00:03:03.219 were building this thing as an HTML5 mobile web 00:03:03.219 --> 00:03:05.729 app. Okay, so let's break that down. Yeah. For 00:03:05.729 --> 00:03:07.669 those who might not remember the tech landscape 00:03:07.669 --> 00:03:12.229 of 2010, HTML5 mobile web app is kind of a fancy 00:03:12.229 --> 00:03:14.189 way of saying it wasn't a native app. Right. 00:03:14.289 --> 00:03:16.430 You didn't download it from the app store and 00:03:16.430 --> 00:03:18.330 have it run smoothly on the metal of the phone. 00:03:18.449 --> 00:03:21.129 It was basically a website trying to act like 00:03:21.129 --> 00:03:23.229 an app. Which is just amazing to think about 00:03:23.229 --> 00:03:25.870 now. And the concept, it wasn't even photos, 00:03:26.050 --> 00:03:29.129 really. No, not at its core. It was a check -in 00:03:29.129 --> 00:03:31.750 app. It was trying to be four square. You would 00:03:31.750 --> 00:03:35.270 go to a location, check in, earn points, maybe 00:03:35.270 --> 00:03:37.370 post a picture of your whiskey. Hence the name 00:03:37.370 --> 00:03:40.830 bourbon. Exactly. But it was complicated. It 00:03:40.830 --> 00:03:43.389 was messy. It was incredibly cluttered. And this 00:03:43.389 --> 00:03:46.349 brings us to one of the most critical moments 00:03:46.349 --> 00:03:49.710 in tech history, the pivot. The famous pivot. 00:03:50.169 --> 00:03:52.110 They had this app, Bourbon, and they did something 00:03:52.110 --> 00:03:54.469 very, very smart. They didn't just keep adding 00:03:54.469 --> 00:03:56.750 features to try and make it work. They looked 00:03:56.750 --> 00:03:59.409 at the user behavior data. They asked, what are 00:03:59.409 --> 00:04:01.490 the few hundred people actually doing on this 00:04:01.490 --> 00:04:03.669 thing? And I love this part of the story because 00:04:03.669 --> 00:04:05.909 it just shows the power of observation. It really 00:04:05.909 --> 00:04:09.150 does. They realized that the checking in part 00:04:09.150 --> 00:04:11.949 was, you know, it was a commodity. Foursquare 00:04:11.949 --> 00:04:13.830 had that lockdown. Nobody cared about the points. 00:04:14.009 --> 00:04:17.220 No. But. The users on Bourbon were obsessed with 00:04:17.220 --> 00:04:19.560 the photo sharing aspect. They were ignoring 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:21.300 all the game mechanics and just posting photos 00:04:21.300 --> 00:04:23.339 of their coffees, their dogs, their weekends. 00:04:23.740 --> 00:04:26.800 Exactly. The communication wasn't, I am at this 00:04:26.800 --> 00:04:28.939 location. The communication was, look at this 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:31.579 thing I am seeing. Yes. So they did the classic 00:04:31.579 --> 00:04:33.839 startup pivot, but they did it ruthlessly. They 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:36.120 stripped everything else away. Everything. No 00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:38.399 more points, no more complicated check -in mechanics, 00:04:38.639 --> 00:04:41.740 just photos, comments, and likes. That was it. 00:04:42.250 --> 00:04:44.050 And they needed a new name, so they combined 00:04:44.050 --> 00:04:47.449 instant camera and telegram. And you get Instagram. 00:04:47.529 --> 00:04:50.589 A portmanteau that perfectly described the utility. 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:54.339 Sending an instant image. And it's an iconic 00:04:54.339 --> 00:04:56.779 name. It really is. And we have to mention the 00:04:56.779 --> 00:04:59.120 first post. This is a real piece of Internet 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:01.519 history. It wasn't, you know, a celebrity selfie 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:04.259 or some carefully curated brand shot. No, it 00:05:04.259 --> 00:05:07.660 was remarkably mundane, which I think fits the 00:05:07.660 --> 00:05:10.600 early vibe of the app perfectly. It really does. 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:14.600 On July 16th, 2010, Mike Krieger posted a photo 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:17.699 of South Beach Harbor at Pier 38. It was just 00:05:17.699 --> 00:05:20.240 a test, essentially. A picture of a boat and 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:22.420 a dog's foot, I think. Something like that. But 00:05:22.420 --> 00:05:23.800 that was the SMARC. That was the first gram. 00:05:24.139 --> 00:05:27.860 And then came launch day, October 6, 2010. They 00:05:27.860 --> 00:05:30.459 released the app on iOS. And it wasn't a slow 00:05:30.459 --> 00:05:34.069 burn. No, it just. It exploded. Completely. They 00:05:34.069 --> 00:05:36.949 had 25 ,000 registrations on day one. I mean, 00:05:36.949 --> 00:05:38.990 that is virtually unheard of for a social app 00:05:38.990 --> 00:05:41.370 without a massive pre -existing network like 00:05:41.370 --> 00:05:45.290 Facebook to leverage. And a lot of that initial 00:05:45.290 --> 00:05:48.329 appeal came down to a very specific constraint 00:05:48.329 --> 00:05:50.050 that they introduced, which I think is really 00:05:50.050 --> 00:05:52.589 the secret sauce of early Instagram. The square. 00:05:52.810 --> 00:05:54.829 The square. Oh, the square. I honestly miss the 00:05:54.829 --> 00:05:57.110 square sometimes. Me too. For the younger listeners 00:05:57.110 --> 00:05:59.730 or anyone who joined later, Instagram used to 00:05:59.730 --> 00:06:02.110 force you to crop everything. into a perfect 00:06:02.110 --> 00:06:05.350 1 .1 square, and the resolution was tiny. It 00:06:05.350 --> 00:06:09.290 was 640 pixels by 640 pixels. That seems incredibly 00:06:09.290 --> 00:06:11.529 low -res by today's standards. It's nothing. 00:06:11.670 --> 00:06:13.689 Your smartwatch probably has a better screen 00:06:13.689 --> 00:06:16.050 now, but there was a technical reason for it. 00:06:16.189 --> 00:06:18.889 That matched the display width of the iPhone 00:06:18.889 --> 00:06:21.310 4 at the time. Right, so it fit perfectly on 00:06:21.310 --> 00:06:23.519 the screen. But aesthetically, it did something 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:26.560 very, very interesting. It mimicked the look 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:30.740 of old Kodak Instamatic cameras or Polaroids. 00:06:30.879 --> 00:06:34.879 It gave everything a nostalgic sort of artistic 00:06:34.879 --> 00:06:38.800 feel instantly. It turned everyone into an amateur 00:06:38.800 --> 00:06:40.899 photographer. That was the genius of it. Yes. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:42.819 You didn't need to worry about the rule of thirds 00:06:42.819 --> 00:06:46.420 or landscape versus portrait. You just centered 00:06:46.420 --> 00:06:48.360 your subject in the square, slapped a filter 00:06:48.360 --> 00:06:51.519 on it. maybe expo 2 or valencia valencia and 00:06:51.519 --> 00:06:54.500 suddenly your average lunch looked like art It 00:06:54.500 --> 00:06:57.040 just it lowered the barrier to entry for content 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:59.279 creation so dramatically. And that aesthetic 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:02.319 defined the platform for years. It wasn't until 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:05.500 August 2015 that they finally eased those restrictions 00:07:05.500 --> 00:07:08.540 and allowed portrait and landscape orientations. 00:07:08.620 --> 00:07:10.839 Five whole years of the square. But by then, 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:12.800 the Instagram aesthetic was already established. 00:07:12.899 --> 00:07:15.819 That constraint, the square, it actually forced 00:07:15.819 --> 00:07:18.120 people to be more creative. So the growth numbers 00:07:18.120 --> 00:07:20.680 here are just they're wild. They hit one million 00:07:20.680 --> 00:07:23.040 users in two months. Two months. They hit 10 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:26.420 million. year. And then came the Android release 00:07:26.420 --> 00:07:30.379 in April 2012. The Android launch was a damn 00:07:30.379 --> 00:07:32.500 breaking. It was downloaded a million times in 00:07:32.500 --> 00:07:35.120 less than 24 hours. Wow. The demand was just, 00:07:35.180 --> 00:07:38.180 it was pent up. But almost immediately after 00:07:38.180 --> 00:07:40.360 that Android launch, I mean, literally days later, 00:07:40.420 --> 00:07:42.560 came the news that just shook the tech world. 00:07:42.699 --> 00:07:47.379 The acquisition, April 2012, Facebook, now Meta, 00:07:47.420 --> 00:07:51.129 swoops in and buys Instagram. for approximately 00:07:51.129 --> 00:07:55.329 $1 billion in cash and stock. A billion dollars. 00:07:55.430 --> 00:07:57.089 To understand why this was so shocking, you have 00:07:57.089 --> 00:07:59.569 to look at the context of 2012. A billion dollars 00:07:59.569 --> 00:08:03.230 for a mobile app with 13 employees. 13. And zero 00:08:03.230 --> 00:08:06.069 revenue. Zero. It seemed completely insane. People 00:08:06.069 --> 00:08:08.069 were comparing it to Yahoo buying Flinger years 00:08:08.069 --> 00:08:11.110 earlier for just, what, $35 million? Right. The 00:08:11.110 --> 00:08:13.529 jump from $35 million to a billion felt like 00:08:13.529 --> 00:08:15.509 a bubble bursting. I remember the headlines so 00:08:15.509 --> 00:08:17.889 clearly. Mark Zuckerberg is crazy. What is he 00:08:17.889 --> 00:08:19.910 buying? People thought it was just vanity. They 00:08:19.910 --> 00:08:23.269 really did. But in hindsight. Looking at it from 00:08:23.269 --> 00:08:26.490 2026, it might be one of the greatest bargains 00:08:26.490 --> 00:08:28.569 in business history. It's not even a question. 00:08:28.750 --> 00:08:31.069 It absolutely is. If Instagram were a standalone 00:08:31.069 --> 00:08:34.029 company today, it would be worth hundreds and 00:08:34.029 --> 00:08:37.230 hundreds of billions. Easily. It secured Facebook's 00:08:37.230 --> 00:08:39.909 dominance on mobile for the next decade. At the 00:08:39.909 --> 00:08:42.389 time, Facebook was actually struggling with the 00:08:42.389 --> 00:08:45.350 shift to mobile. Their app was clunky. It was 00:08:45.350 --> 00:08:48.669 terrible. And Instagram was mobile native. Zuckerberg 00:08:48.669 --> 00:08:50.789 wasn't just buying an app. He was buying a future. 00:08:51.029 --> 00:08:54.149 A foothold in the new world. Exactly. And initially, 00:08:54.309 --> 00:08:56.450 he promised that Instagram would be independently 00:08:56.450 --> 00:08:58.889 managed. He wanted to keep the culture distinct. 00:08:59.309 --> 00:09:01.549 And for a while, that seemed to be true. I mean, 00:09:01.549 --> 00:09:03.870 the founders, Systrom and Krieger, they stayed 00:09:03.870 --> 00:09:06.809 on board. But that independence, it didn't last 00:09:06.809 --> 00:09:10.120 forever. Tensions eventually rose. mostly about 00:09:10.120 --> 00:09:12.860 autonomy and Facebook encroaching on the app. 00:09:12.980 --> 00:09:14.500 And just, you know, integrating it more into 00:09:14.500 --> 00:09:16.879 the mothership. Right. And both founders left 00:09:16.879 --> 00:09:19.519 in September 2018. That's when Adam Mosseri took 00:09:19.519 --> 00:09:22.019 over. And we really saw the app start to integrate 00:09:22.019 --> 00:09:24.039 more and more deeply into the meta ecosystem. 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:26.879 But before we get to the modern era, we have 00:09:26.879 --> 00:09:29.759 to talk about the feature wars. Oh, yes. Because 00:09:29.759 --> 00:09:32.879 Instagram didn't just grow by inventing new things. 00:09:33.080 --> 00:09:36.360 They grew by being absolutely ruthless about 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:38.690 competition. This is a defining characteristic 00:09:38.690 --> 00:09:43.169 of Instagram's strategy. Innovation versus borrowing. 00:09:43.570 --> 00:09:45.750 Borrowing is a very polite way to put it. And 00:09:45.750 --> 00:09:47.970 the most famous example is, of course, stories. 00:09:48.389 --> 00:09:52.549 2016. Snapchat is the cool new kid on the block. 00:09:53.149 --> 00:09:55.370 Untouchable, it seems. Yeah. Teenagers are flocking 00:09:55.370 --> 00:09:57.269 to it because of the ephemeral nature of it. 00:09:57.309 --> 00:10:01.129 Photos that disappear. It felt raw and authentic, 00:10:01.309 --> 00:10:03.370 unlike the curated perfection of the Instagram 00:10:03.370 --> 00:10:06.149 feed. And Instagram was scared. Parified. They 00:10:06.149 --> 00:10:08.669 were terrified. Snapchat was eating into their 00:10:08.669 --> 00:10:11.490 engagement with the younger demographic. So Instagram 00:10:11.490 --> 00:10:14.570 launched Stories. And they didn't even try to 00:10:14.570 --> 00:10:16.710 hide that it was a clone. Not even a little bit. 00:10:16.730 --> 00:10:19.450 It was the exact same mechanic. Disappearing 00:10:19.450 --> 00:10:22.370 photos and videos in a sequential feed, accessible 00:10:22.370 --> 00:10:24.789 for 24 hours. The circles at the top of the app, 00:10:24.889 --> 00:10:27.029 everything. I love the quote from Kevin Systrom 00:10:27.029 --> 00:10:28.590 when he was pressed on this. He didn't deny it. 00:10:28.610 --> 00:10:30.129 He basically said, look, everyone has wheels. 00:10:30.389 --> 00:10:32.440 Right. He was referencing the auto industry. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:35.519 His argument was that the format, the ephemeral 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:37.799 story, was like the wheel. Okay. Just because 00:10:37.799 --> 00:10:39.519 someone invented the wheel doesn't mean you can't 00:10:39.519 --> 00:10:41.799 put wheels on your car. He admitted Snapchat 00:10:41.799 --> 00:10:44.200 deserved all the credit for the invention. Look. 00:10:44.340 --> 00:10:46.559 But he argued that execution is what matters. 00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:49.960 And their execution was lethal. Completely. By 00:10:49.960 --> 00:10:52.820 2017, just a year later, Instagram stories had 00:10:52.820 --> 00:10:56.240 200 million daily users. And how many did Snapchat 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:59.629 have? That was more than Snapchat's entire user 00:10:59.629 --> 00:11:02.029 base at the time. Wow. They took the feature, 00:11:02.230 --> 00:11:04.450 put it in front of a much larger audience, and 00:11:04.450 --> 00:11:07.070 essentially won the war. It was a master class 00:11:07.070 --> 00:11:09.750 in platform power. But not every copycat move 00:11:09.750 --> 00:11:12.389 worked out so well for them. Oh, no. Remember 00:11:12.389 --> 00:11:18.250 IGTV? IGTV. 2018. Little orange button. That 00:11:18.250 --> 00:11:20.250 feels like a fever dream now. It really does. 00:11:21.119 --> 00:11:23.519 This was their big attempt to kill YouTube. They 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:25.379 wanted to capture the long form video market, 00:11:25.519 --> 00:11:27.899 but they insisted on it being vertical video 00:11:27.899 --> 00:11:30.600 only. They thought they could train users to 00:11:30.600 --> 00:11:32.580 watch 20 minute videos on our phones vertically. 00:11:32.820 --> 00:11:36.309 And the user said, no, thanks. Uncomfortable 00:11:36.309 --> 00:11:38.470 is awkward. Watching a documentary vertically 00:11:38.470 --> 00:11:40.629 just does not work. It doesn't. It was a ghost 00:11:40.629 --> 00:11:42.490 town. They eventually just shut it down in March 00:11:42.490 --> 00:11:46.070 2022. It's a really rare example of Instagram 00:11:46.070 --> 00:11:48.250 completely misreading the room. A rare miss. 00:11:48.370 --> 00:11:50.350 A rare miss. They realized that if people want 00:11:50.350 --> 00:11:52.789 long form, they go to YouTube. If they want short 00:11:52.789 --> 00:11:55.269 form, they go to, well, at the time, musical 00:11:55.269 --> 00:11:58.169 .ly, which became TikTok. Which brings us to 00:11:58.169 --> 00:12:01.860 Reels. 2020. TikTok has taken over the world 00:12:01.860 --> 00:12:04.639 and Instagram does the stories play all over 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:07.639 again. They launched Reels globally in August 00:12:07.639 --> 00:12:10.779 2020. It's the same playbook. short form vertical 00:12:10.779 --> 00:12:14.019 looping video remix capabilities but this transition 00:12:14.019 --> 00:12:17.620 was much much rockier than stories was why do 00:12:17.620 --> 00:12:19.519 you think that was with stories it felt like 00:12:19.519 --> 00:12:21.600 an add -on it sat at the top of your app you 00:12:21.600 --> 00:12:24.299 could engage or not with reels instagram started 00:12:24.299 --> 00:12:26.919 forcing it into the main feed oh yeah this was 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:30.120 the infamous pivot to video of 2022 that made 00:12:30.120 --> 00:12:33.480 everyone so angry i remember the petition tati 00:12:33.480 --> 00:12:35.779 brinning a photographer started a petition called 00:12:35.779 --> 00:12:39.580 make instagram instagram again It was huge. And 00:12:39.580 --> 00:12:41.500 all she wanted was to see photos of her friends. 00:12:41.620 --> 00:12:43.799 And it went viral. Even the Kardashians shared 00:12:43.799 --> 00:12:46.879 it. Kylie Jenner posted, stop trying to be TikTok. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:50.019 And when the Kardashians speak, the stock market 00:12:50.019 --> 00:12:52.100 listens. It really does. Instagram had to walk 00:12:52.100 --> 00:12:54.399 it back slightly. Adam Mosseri put out a video 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:56.740 saying they heard the feedback. But did they 00:12:56.740 --> 00:12:58.820 really? Not really. They never abandoned the 00:12:58.820 --> 00:13:01.559 strategy. They just became smoother about integrating 00:13:01.559 --> 00:13:04.559 it. And looking at our notes on the 2025 updates, 00:13:04.860 --> 00:13:07.519 they are just doubling down. Doubling, tripling 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:11.700 down. In January 2025, they increased the Reels 00:13:11.700 --> 00:13:14.539 duration to three minutes. Right, which is a 00:13:14.539 --> 00:13:16.960 direct response to TikTok increasing their length. 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:20.200 Of course. And the algorithm now is so heavily 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:22.980 weighted toward video. If you are a static photo 00:13:22.980 --> 00:13:26.710 account in 2025 or 2026, you are fighting. an 00:13:26.710 --> 00:13:28.970 uphill battle against the machine. The system 00:13:28.970 --> 00:13:31.370 just wants motion. And we can't forget threads 00:13:31.370 --> 00:13:35.149 launched in 2023. That was their answer to Twitter 00:13:35.149 --> 00:13:38.230 or X. That was a fascinating launch. They leveraged 00:13:38.230 --> 00:13:40.529 the Instagram social graph, which was the genius 00:13:40.529 --> 00:13:43.049 part. You didn't have to build a following from 00:13:43.049 --> 00:13:45.029 scratch. You could just import your Instagram 00:13:45.029 --> 00:13:47.149 followers. Which allowed for instant adoption. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:51.179 100 million users in record time. Record time. 00:13:51.299 --> 00:13:53.539 Although retention has been a different battle. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:57.399 But it just, it shows the strategy. If a competitor 00:13:57.399 --> 00:14:02.120 exists, Meta will build a clone inside the Instagram 00:14:02.120 --> 00:14:04.740 ecosystem. Okay, so we've talked about the features, 00:14:04.919 --> 00:14:06.919 but let's talk about what drives them. Let's 00:14:06.919 --> 00:14:09.360 go under the hood. The algorithm. This is the 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.019 thing everyone loves to hate. The big shift happened 00:14:12.019 --> 00:14:15.340 in 2016. Before that, Instagram was strictly 00:14:15.340 --> 00:14:18.440 chronological. You saw posts in the order they 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:20.179 were published. If you scrolled far enough, you 00:14:20.179 --> 00:14:22.379 saw everything. You could finish Instagram for 00:14:22.379 --> 00:14:24.740 the day. I remember that feeling. It was so satisfying. 00:14:25.039 --> 00:14:27.100 It was. So why did they change it? Well, their 00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:29.460 official line was that as the user base grew, 00:14:29.759 --> 00:14:32.460 people were following too many accounts. Their 00:14:32.460 --> 00:14:34.799 internal data showed that users were missing 00:14:34.799 --> 00:14:38.600 70 % of the posts in their feeds. 70%. Including 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:40.740 the ones they actually cared about. their best 00:14:40.740 --> 00:14:44.340 friends, their family. So they introduced algorithmic 00:14:44.340 --> 00:14:46.360 sorting to show you what they thought you wanted 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:48.519 to see first. And people have been asking for 00:14:48.519 --> 00:14:51.320 the chronological feedback ever since. Nonstop. 00:14:51.539 --> 00:14:55.039 And to be fair, Instagram has reintroduced options. 00:14:55.179 --> 00:14:58.279 You have favorites or following feeds where you 00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:00.519 can get a chronological view. But the default 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:03.779 is always the algorithm. Always. Why? Because 00:15:03.779 --> 00:15:05.720 the algorithm is better at keeping you on the 00:15:05.720 --> 00:15:08.679 app longer. And time on app equals ad revenue. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:12.220 It prioritizes engagement over recency. It's 00:15:12.220 --> 00:15:14.340 as simple as that. It really is. Okay, let's 00:15:14.340 --> 00:15:16.879 talk about the psychology of the like. This is 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:18.500 something Instagram has really struggled with. 00:15:18.539 --> 00:15:21.679 For a while, the like was the currency of self 00:15:21.679 --> 00:15:24.299 -worth. It was. It absolutely was. And they knew 00:15:24.299 --> 00:15:27.019 it was toxic. They knew. Starting around 2019, 00:15:27.340 --> 00:15:30.080 they ran a massive experiment. It started in 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:33.419 Canada first. They hid the like counts. I remember 00:15:33.419 --> 00:15:35.100 this. You could see who liked your post, but 00:15:35.100 --> 00:15:38.200 the public number, the 1 ,500 likes was hidden. 00:15:38.259 --> 00:15:41.299 And the goal was to depressurize the experience. 00:15:41.360 --> 00:15:43.600 Right. To stop people from deleting a photo just 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:44.940 because they didn't get enough traction in the 00:15:44.940 --> 00:15:47.659 first hour. Exactly. They wanted people to post 00:15:47.659 --> 00:15:49.840 for expression, not for the score. Yeah. The 00:15:49.840 --> 00:15:54.580 result was... Influencers hated it because likes 00:15:54.580 --> 00:15:56.940 were their metrics for brand deals. Of course. 00:15:57.019 --> 00:15:59.240 Regular users, I think, felt a bit of relief. 00:15:59.379 --> 00:16:01.740 Eventually, they just made it optional. You can 00:16:01.740 --> 00:16:04.000 now choose to hide or unhide your accounts. Which 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:06.120 was sort of a tacit admission, wasn't it? It 00:16:06.120 --> 00:16:08.580 was. It was an admission that the core mechanic 00:16:08.580 --> 00:16:12.399 of their platform social validation was causing 00:16:12.399 --> 00:16:14.740 psychological distress. Speaking of distress, 00:16:15.019 --> 00:16:18.159 let's... Let's move into the darker side of this 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:20.580 deep dive. We have to talk about the Facebook 00:16:20.580 --> 00:16:25.539 files. This was a massive leak in 2021 that really 00:16:25.539 --> 00:16:28.000 exposed what Meta knew about its own platform. 00:16:28.279 --> 00:16:30.440 This was a watershed moment. The Wall Street 00:16:30.440 --> 00:16:32.980 Journal obtained a huge trove of internal research 00:16:32.980 --> 00:16:36.139 from within Meta. And the findings were damning. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:38.940 They weren't good. The company knew definitively 00:16:38.940 --> 00:16:41.759 that Instagram was harmful to a significant portion 00:16:41.759 --> 00:16:44.279 of its users, particularly teenage girls. The 00:16:44.279 --> 00:16:46.120 statistics from that leak are just, they're chilling 00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:49.059 to read even now. They are. They found that Instagram 00:16:49.059 --> 00:16:52.159 makes body image issues worse for one in three 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:55.220 teen girls. One in three. They also found that 00:16:55.220 --> 00:16:58.179 13 % of British teens who reported having suicidal 00:16:58.179 --> 00:17:00.559 thoughts traced the origin of those thoughts 00:17:00.559 --> 00:17:04.220 directly to Instagram. That is a staggering number. 00:17:04.359 --> 00:17:06.819 And the research highlighted a specific concept 00:17:06.819 --> 00:17:09.779 called social comparison. Right. And this is 00:17:09.779 --> 00:17:12.779 where Instagram differs from, say, TikTok or 00:17:12.779 --> 00:17:15.359 Snapchat. Snapchat is about communication with 00:17:15.359 --> 00:17:17.740 your friends, making silly faces, being goofy. 00:17:17.880 --> 00:17:19.880 TikTok is about entertainment and performance. 00:17:20.099 --> 00:17:24.460 But Instagram? Instagram is so often about lifestyle 00:17:24.460 --> 00:17:27.460 and body perfection. The curated life. And the 00:17:27.460 --> 00:17:29.740 internal research admitted that social comparison 00:17:29.740 --> 00:17:32.200 is worse on Instagram than on the... those other 00:17:32.200 --> 00:17:34.799 platforms because it is so focused on the visual 00:17:34.799 --> 00:17:37.500 presentation of an idealized self. It's the highlight 00:17:37.500 --> 00:17:39.380 reel effect, right? You're comparing your behind 00:17:39.380 --> 00:17:41.420 the scenes mess to everyone else's polished, 00:17:41.579 --> 00:17:44.240 perfect highlight reel. Exactly. And this leads 00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:47.460 directly to the Instagram face, this sort of 00:17:47.460 --> 00:17:50.460 homogenized beauty standard created by filters 00:17:50.460 --> 00:17:52.980 and editing tools. Everyone starts to look the 00:17:52.980 --> 00:17:55.420 same. And it's not just the static images anymore, 00:17:55.519 --> 00:17:58.119 is it? The move to reels has introduced a whole 00:17:58.119 --> 00:18:01.680 new. addiction mechanism the dopamine loop right 00:18:01.680 --> 00:18:04.619 short form video is designed to trigger these 00:18:04.619 --> 00:18:06.960 short bursts of thrills in your brain it's like 00:18:06.960 --> 00:18:09.180 a slot machine swipe up maybe you get a laugh 00:18:09.180 --> 00:18:11.619 yeah swipe up maybe you'll learn a recipe swipe 00:18:11.619 --> 00:18:13.380 up maybe you see a cute puppy you never know 00:18:13.380 --> 00:18:16.160 what's coming next so you keep pulling the lever 00:18:16.160 --> 00:18:18.859 that is literally the psychological term for 00:18:18.859 --> 00:18:22.549 it a variable reward schedule. And neurochemically, 00:18:22.690 --> 00:18:24.750 that is incredibly potent. And what does that 00:18:24.750 --> 00:18:26.690 do to our brains long term? Well, researchers 00:18:26.690 --> 00:18:28.990 have linked this to lower attention spans. It's 00:18:28.990 --> 00:18:31.329 becoming demonstrably more difficult for heavy 00:18:31.329 --> 00:18:34.349 users to engage in deep focus activities, like 00:18:34.349 --> 00:18:36.210 reading a book. Because your brain is trained 00:18:36.210 --> 00:18:38.869 to expect a new stimulus every 15 seconds. Exactly. 00:18:39.329 --> 00:18:41.470 Another aspect of the dark side that I found 00:18:41.470 --> 00:18:43.630 really disturbing in the notes is this concept 00:18:43.630 --> 00:18:47.410 of sharenting. This is a huge and growing privacy 00:18:47.410 --> 00:18:51.079 crisis. It's parents posting their children online. 00:18:51.640 --> 00:18:54.240 There was an analysis of the hashtag, hashtag, 00:18:54.440 --> 00:18:57.799 let a thumb belittle. It found millions and millions 00:18:57.799 --> 00:19:01.160 of images where children's faces, names, and 00:19:01.160 --> 00:19:03.539 even their locations were exposed. So these kids 00:19:03.539 --> 00:19:05.140 are creating a digital footprint before they 00:19:05.140 --> 00:19:07.460 can even speak. And they have no say in it, no 00:19:07.460 --> 00:19:10.180 consent. It's a massive vulnerability. And speaking 00:19:10.180 --> 00:19:13.099 of vulnerability, Instagram itself hasn't exactly 00:19:13.099 --> 00:19:15.420 been a fortress when it comes to security. No, 00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:19.670 far from it. In September 2024, Meta was hit 00:19:19.670 --> 00:19:23.490 with a $101 million fine for storing hundreds 00:19:23.490 --> 00:19:25.890 of millions of user passwords in plain text. 00:19:26.150 --> 00:19:28.569 Plain text. That's security 101. You don't do 00:19:28.569 --> 00:19:30.769 that. You don't do that. Normally, passwords 00:19:30.769 --> 00:19:33.269 should be hashed and salted, basically encrypted, 00:19:33.430 --> 00:19:35.970 so even the company can't read them. But this 00:19:35.970 --> 00:19:38.569 had been going on since 2012. Since 2012. It 00:19:38.569 --> 00:19:40.309 means that any employee with access to those 00:19:40.309 --> 00:19:42.390 databases could just read your password. It wasn't 00:19:42.390 --> 00:19:44.230 encrypted. That's unbelievable. And that's on 00:19:44.230 --> 00:19:46.839 top of the massive GDPR fine. they got in Ireland 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:51.779 in 2022. How much was that? $402 million, specifically 00:19:51.779 --> 00:19:55.160 regarding the mishandling of miners' data. It's 00:19:55.160 --> 00:19:57.460 a pattern of negligence that is just, it's hard 00:19:57.460 --> 00:19:59.920 to ignore. It is. But it's not just about what 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:01.640 they let slip through. It's also about what they 00:20:01.640 --> 00:20:03.960 actively take down. Yeah. Let's talk about censorship 00:20:03.960 --> 00:20:07.740 and moderation. This is a minefield. Instagram's 00:20:07.740 --> 00:20:09.559 community guidelines have been criticized for 00:20:09.559 --> 00:20:12.500 being incredibly inconsistent, particularly when 00:20:12.500 --> 00:20:14.740 it comes to women's bodies. The Free the Nipple 00:20:14.740 --> 00:20:17.000 campaign comes to mind immediately. Exactly. 00:20:17.440 --> 00:20:20.880 Male toplessness is perfectly fine on the platform. 00:20:21.119 --> 00:20:24.559 Sure. Female toplessness is banned as sexually 00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:28.319 suggestive. But the line is so blurry. We've 00:20:28.319 --> 00:20:30.779 seen high profile artists like Petra Collins 00:20:30.779 --> 00:20:33.759 have their accounts deleted for photos that didn't 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:35.599 violate the letter of the law, but maybe violated 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:38.059 the vibe. the moderators were looking for. Right. 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:41.380 And Rupi Kaur, the poet, had that photo of menstrual 00:20:41.380 --> 00:20:44.599 blood on clothing removed. She fought back and 00:20:44.599 --> 00:20:46.920 Instagram eventually apologized and restored 00:20:46.920 --> 00:20:49.440 it. But it just showed how the platform polices 00:20:49.440 --> 00:20:52.259 female bodies so much more strictly than male 00:20:52.259 --> 00:20:54.200 ones. And then there's political censorship. 00:20:54.720 --> 00:20:56.740 This is where it gets really geopolitical. We've 00:20:56.740 --> 00:20:58.619 seen these repeated instances where political 00:20:58.619 --> 00:21:01.640 speech just disappears and Instagram attributes 00:21:01.640 --> 00:21:04.900 it to glitches. The glitch excuse. During the 00:21:04.900 --> 00:21:07.680 Sheikh Jarrah evictions in 2021 and again in 00:21:07.680 --> 00:21:11.180 2023 regarding Palestine, users reported massive 00:21:11.180 --> 00:21:14.059 deletions of stories and posts. And there was 00:21:14.059 --> 00:21:16.259 that auto -translate issue, wasn't there? A huge 00:21:16.259 --> 00:21:19.079 one. The auto -translate feature inserted the 00:21:19.079 --> 00:21:21.539 word terrorist into user bios that contained 00:21:21.539 --> 00:21:24.769 the Palestinian flag and the phrase praise. Wow. 00:21:26.059 --> 00:21:28.019 And Instagram apologized for that, calling it 00:21:28.019 --> 00:21:30.680 a translation error. They did. But when these 00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:32.920 errors consistently happen in one direction, 00:21:33.059 --> 00:21:36.240 it raises serious questions for users about algorithmic 00:21:36.240 --> 00:21:38.900 bias. Of course. We saw similar things with Iran 00:21:38.900 --> 00:21:41.900 in 2020. Instagram removed posts mourning General 00:21:41.900 --> 00:21:43.819 Soleimani because they said they had to comply 00:21:43.819 --> 00:21:46.920 with U .S. sanctions. So an American social media 00:21:46.920 --> 00:21:49.339 company effectively becomes an enforcer of U 00:21:49.339 --> 00:21:51.680 .S. foreign policy on a global scale. That's 00:21:51.680 --> 00:21:53.559 exactly what it is. And because of that power, 00:21:53.680 --> 00:21:56.180 entire countries are... now banning Instagram. 00:21:56.440 --> 00:21:58.740 It's a splintering of the Internet, a splinter 00:21:58.740 --> 00:22:01.940 net. China has blocked it since 2014. They have 00:22:01.940 --> 00:22:05.119 their own ecosystem with WeChat. Russia banned 00:22:05.119 --> 00:22:08.359 it in March 2022 after the invasion of Ukraine, 00:22:08.660 --> 00:22:12.079 labeling Meta an extremist organization. Which 00:22:12.079 --> 00:22:15.079 is a very serious designation. It is. In fact, 00:22:15.079 --> 00:22:19.059 as of July 2025, new legislation in Russia made 00:22:19.059 --> 00:22:22.160 it illegal to even access Instagram via VPN. 00:22:22.700 --> 00:22:24.920 Wow. So it's not just blocked. It's actually 00:22:24.920 --> 00:22:27.660 criminalized. Correct. Turkey even had a brief 00:22:27.660 --> 00:22:31.240 ban in August 2024 over deleted condolences for 00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:33.700 a Hamas leader. It just shows that Instagram 00:22:33.700 --> 00:22:36.960 is no longer a fun app. It's a political battleground 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:39.440 where nations are asserting their digital sovereignty. 00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:41.299 OK, let's bring it home. Let's talk about the 00:22:41.299 --> 00:22:43.309 present day. We're looking at the landscape of 00:22:43.309 --> 00:22:46.869 late 2025 and early 2026. What does Instagram 00:22:46.869 --> 00:22:49.869 look like now? Well, for one, the iPad users 00:22:49.869 --> 00:22:52.250 finally got their wish. It only took 15 years. 00:22:52.329 --> 00:22:53.890 I honestly thought it was never going to happen. 00:22:54.009 --> 00:22:57.390 Chuckles. I think we all did. In September 2025, 00:22:57.990 --> 00:23:00.990 they finally launched a native iPadOS app. Before 00:23:00.990 --> 00:23:02.910 that, you had to use the blown up iPhone version 00:23:02.910 --> 00:23:05.210 with the black bars on the side. It was ridiculous, 00:23:05.390 --> 00:23:07.150 but they finally fixed it. And they've launched 00:23:07.150 --> 00:23:09.349 some new standalone apps too, haven't they? They 00:23:09.349 --> 00:23:13.349 have. They released edits in April 2025. This 00:23:13.349 --> 00:23:16.190 is a standalone video editing app. Okay, so a 00:23:16.190 --> 00:23:19.349 competitor to CapCut. A direct response to CapCut, 00:23:19.349 --> 00:23:21.490 which is owned by ByteDance, the parent company 00:23:21.490 --> 00:23:24.470 of TikTok. Instagram realized that people were 00:23:24.470 --> 00:23:27.579 editing their videos on CapCut. using their tools 00:23:27.579 --> 00:23:30.220 and templates, and then posting the final product 00:23:30.220 --> 00:23:32.579 to Reels. And they want to own the whole process. 00:23:32.819 --> 00:23:34.740 They want to own the creation tools, not just 00:23:34.740 --> 00:23:36.839 the distribution. And the interface itself is 00:23:36.839 --> 00:23:39.259 changing. This is the most controversial change 00:23:39.259 --> 00:23:42.920 on the horizon, I think. In late 2025, they began 00:23:42.920 --> 00:23:46.039 testing a Reels -first UI in markets like India 00:23:46.039 --> 00:23:48.240 and Korea. And what does that mean, Reels -first? 00:23:48.579 --> 00:23:52.960 In this version, the Home tab IS Reels, the standard... 00:23:53.420 --> 00:23:55.380 photo feed the thing instagram was literally 00:23:55.380 --> 00:23:58.200 built on gets demoted even further so the transformation 00:23:58.200 --> 00:24:00.859 is complete it is officially a video app essentially 00:24:00.859 --> 00:24:03.279 yes and we're seeing them try to reclaim some 00:24:03.279 --> 00:24:05.480 of that social aspect with features like close 00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:08.160 friends they actually launched a podcast feature 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:10.720 a series under the close friends only brand with 00:24:10.720 --> 00:24:13.279 celebrities trying to capitalize on that feeling 00:24:13.279 --> 00:24:17.720 of intimacy but the main feed that is now a broadcast 00:24:17.720 --> 00:24:19.980 channel It's just amazing to think about the 00:24:19.980 --> 00:24:22.920 journey. We started with a square photo of a 00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:26.619 harbor in 2010. And now we have a global video 00:24:26.619 --> 00:24:30.640 marketplace driven by AI, regulated by governments, 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:33.779 and fighting for our attention every single second 00:24:33.779 --> 00:24:35.460 of the day. It changed the definition of memory. 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:38.500 We don't just experience moments anymore. We 00:24:38.500 --> 00:24:41.920 curate them for an audience. We live life in 00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:45.079 order to create content about it. That is a profound 00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:48.009 thought. And as we wrap up this deep dive, I 00:24:48.009 --> 00:24:50.750 want to leave our listeners with one final provocation. 00:24:50.769 --> 00:24:53.930 With this 2025 push toward a Reels -first interface, 00:24:54.490 --> 00:24:56.970 Instagram is effectively abandoning the social 00:24:56.970 --> 00:24:59.130 network model, you know, connecting with your 00:24:59.130 --> 00:25:01.809 friends for a media broadcast model, entertainment 00:25:01.809 --> 00:25:04.250 from strangers. Right. It's moving from the social 00:25:04.250 --> 00:25:07.650 graph to the interest graph. Exactly. So my question 00:25:07.650 --> 00:25:10.460 is this. If we aren't seeing our friends anymore 00:25:10.460 --> 00:25:12.779 and we aren't the ones creating the high quality 00:25:12.779 --> 00:25:15.279 video content that gets rewarded by the algorithm, 00:25:15.539 --> 00:25:19.099 are we still users or have we just become the 00:25:19.099 --> 00:25:21.200 audience for the algorithm? Yeah, that's the 00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:24.400 question, isn't it? Are you the customer or are 00:25:24.400 --> 00:25:26.799 you the product being sold to advertisers while 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:29.880 you watch videos made by strangers? I think the 00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:32.930 answer is becoming increasingly clear. Little 00:25:32.930 --> 00:25:35.250 existential dread to end your commute. Thank 00:25:35.250 --> 00:25:37.309 you for joining us on this deep dive into Instagram. 00:25:37.630 --> 00:25:39.490 We will catch you on the next one. Thanks for 00:25:39.490 --> 00:25:39.910 having me.