There’s a fair amount of hypothesising on this subject floating around on the web. Is instagram killing creativity, is it killing photography, is it killing… blah blah blah… On the whole i think we all believe Instagram is killing a host of different things. But whether the deluge of similar content posted by influencers is killing creativity in general? Lets explore that for a sec.

Influencer Style

Instagram content, despite being user content, has somehow become its own sort of style. The “influencer style”, if you will. Dependent on what subject matter you’re into there will be a sort of instagram style guide to abide to in order to be safe in the knowledge that you fit it, dont push boundaries, and get a nice safe amount of likes and comments.

Okay yes, some of it is samey.

This issue is exacerbated by the fact that the majority of users on instagram are not ‘creatives’ and there is no creative process involved to ensure originality. Influencers, standing in front of mirrors, in a white room doing the “influencer shoulder”, filming on their iPhone, peddling their wares like modern day market sellers.

But, Why?

We often ask ourselves “why?” when the reasons are simply justified as “why not?”. There is little reason to put in more effort to be different, when being wildly different is not valued on a massive platform like Instagram. Humans are not inherently driven to be genuinely different, call it the tribal mentality, or the “Sheeple” effect, but there are millions of examples of people going out of their way to follow the grain. At school we’re taught that being different, or being “other” gets you picked on. Our survival instincts implore us to follow the pack with our actions to ensure safety in numbers. Retail industries feed on and propagate our desire to “be different within safe parameters”. Faux individualism is the key here, making us feel as though we’re unique, but only within the safe limitations of the game.

Originator, not Influencer

So how do we add spice to the blandness. Stand out in a sea of homogenous, artificial similitude. Brands and users are growing tired of the similar content and are longing for original content, new ideas, new visuals and pushing boundaries.

So what will we see in the New-20’s? We hope to see new ideas, with brands taking new directions, pushing different ideas, and not peddling the same old influencer looks. And the brands that dont update their game may find their engagement dropping.

Instagram is forever changing it’s algorithms, so there is always the possibility of another update to their user experience which will change the way brands will have to engage with the platform.

Seek and You Shall Find

With all of this said, if you are committed to the search, you will find some awesome content on Instagram which is unique and quirky, which doesn’t follow the rules and pushes boundaries. Try using some weirdly specific hashtags for what your into and hopefully you’ll find some awesome new people to engage with – just dont blindly trust that your Discover feed has your best interests at heart… they are there to make money remember.