It seems like a number of people commenting here don't use instagram other than passively. You aren't allowed to have links on instagram pics, and as others have mentioned that this helps with spam issues, but the idea that instagram "looks inwards" isn't doesn't lead to isolation and the same can be said for twitter. People do connect to each other across ig and twitter using hashtags, so in a way, hashtags help link people together in a way that links didn't. Something I like about hashtags over links is that the content you link to now isn't specific and thus there is no filter. This is how I discover content and content producers (photographers) I wouldn't have discovered otherwise. For example, something I love is #komorebi[0]. I have discovered and followed a number of people from Japan and elsewhere on the basis of that hashtag and I wouldn't have found them if I could only go link by link. Hashtags effectively make a large number of nodes in the graph adjacent to you, while with hyperlinks, you'd have to travel from node to node through one edge at a time, making finding interesting content more difficult.
What might differ then with the old web is that people are no longer represented by websites, they are represented by profiles, profiles that are somewhat limited, somewhat forced into a mold, so that it is easier to polish and curate them. That is a discussion in and of itself, but the point I'm trying to make is that there is connection between people going on, and in some ways, better than before.
>but the idea that instagram "looks inwards" isn't
Do instagram hashtags only work within Instagram? Do hashtags within Instagram look outwards, or inwards? How about Twitter? Does Twitter hashtags cross over to other "Content Producer" friendly applications?
I'm starting to come to the conclusion that users actually sort of like this sort of thing, and that it fuels a lot of the social dynamic on the internet. What I'm seeing is that groups of friends congregate in group chats, and a lot of the activity there is sharing links into these silos, freeing content and showing it to friends. If no one was (practically, by lack of motivation to join/engage) excluded by each silo there would be less of an opportunity to introduce things to people that they don't or can't find on their own, and less social activity. Perhaps social is in the gutters between the silos?
A clique/cabal based communities is not the future that I strive or envision for the internet. This walled-garden model for the internet will prove harmful for the open nature of this medium of communication.
Could it be group psychology? I'd like to chat with a psychologist or sociologist about this. My pet theory is that these sites, internal looking, closed etc all work on the basis of the group. And even "the wider open internet" also works on the basis of the group. However, a more forward thinking humanity may want to increase the group, the range , the diversity, or they may want to be more realistic about our psychologies....
I'm obviously biased here, but to be fair to instagram, you do have the option of putting links in your profile. This is how the spammers on ig work, they make a profile featuring a girl with big boobs, then they heart a bunch of random photos, then put a link for "more intimate pictures" in their profile. Besides the stupid spamming, many instagrammers put a link to their blog or website in their profile, and if a specific pic has a blogpost associated with it, they mention that in the description. Yes, it is an extra step and makes the process harder for sharing external content, but I think it fits instagram very well. Instagram really isn't for blogging or communication (despite the messenging service they rolled out a while back.) It's for photo sharing, and being focused yields a better experience for doing just that.
Right, I fumbled on my grammar in that one sentence, but what I meant is that the nature of instagram with its "inward looking"-ness doesn't disconnect content producers from content consumers. Actually, ig connects many of us together, that is my experience at least. I'm not disagreeing with the idea that ig is inwards looking.
Anyway, that sounds like the next big startup, a simple service that links hashtagged (and otherwise tagged) content from ig, twitter, blogs, and puts its access into one portal.
What might differ then with the old web is that people are no longer represented by websites, they are represented by profiles, profiles that are somewhat limited, somewhat forced into a mold, so that it is easier to polish and curate them. That is a discussion in and of itself, but the point I'm trying to make is that there is connection between people going on, and in some ways, better than before.
[0] http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/181055/english-eq...
Using hashtags gives your content eyes and gives