![]() ![]() Similar to Stories, these messages appear for only 24 hours. Instagram Notes allow you to post short messages to your “Close Friends” or to followers you follow back. Therefore, let me introduce you to the sticky-notes of Instagram, Instagram Notes. This is not an “update,” but a forced change to blur the lines between Facebook-owned apps.Since sliding into DM’s have become a major communication route for Instagram users, the social network have created a new way to interact in this section. These are simply features presented to artificially devalue one of the systems, distract from the real changes, and manipulate users into changing to a different system. Facebook could have added these to the Instagram Direct messaging app without bringing Facebook Messenger cross-platform functionality along with it. There is nothing especially innovative about having colors in chats, or new emojis. This is not an update, but a new messaging system from which you can’t switch back. Not forgetting that Facebook's policy means that this change will eventually link to your real name. ![]() More importantly, hiding this detail in the fine print makes it an unclear choice to users who are surrounded by notifications, pings, and banners pressuring them into the change. Here, you have the choice to change to the new messaging system- but you don’t have the choice to go back to the previous Instagram non-linked version. Tech companies like Facebook have mastered the art of distorting choice and consent. And, if this Instagram update is any indication, users are not getting the opportunity to make a clear, informed choice. If anything, Facebook isn’t trying to make its messengers interoperable it’s trying to make them indistinguishable to regulators with competition and data-sharing concerns and to users. In the initial 2019 announcement on merging the three messaging apps, Facebook called it a step toward “interoperability, saying, “We want to give people a choice so they can reach their friends across these networks from whichever app they prefer.” But communicating across services owned and operated by a single company isn't interoperability. It’s not a coincidence that the “updated” version of the Instagram messaging app does not use the Instagram logo or a new one, but the Facebook Messenger logo. Now, this latest update represents another step towards merging Instagram into Facebook, and making it harder to distinguish one from the other. įacebook’s acquisition of Instagram in 2012 came the same story, concerns, and failure from enforcers to properly evaluate the acquisition. Facebook made promises to keep the two services operating separately, and Facebook broke those promises just two years later, with similarly unclear notice to users. WhatsApp users had made the choice to use a service outside of Facebook, and many were concerned that this was not only an attempt to acquire the users’ data and crush competitors, but also to eventually merge WhatsApp into Facebook’s ecosystem. When Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014, antitrust enforcers already had concerns about what this meant for consumers. And its execution seems to be in step with Facebook’s custom of minimizing the extent-and invasiveness-of a business move in order to get users to click “ok.” End-to-end encryption beyond WhatsApp hasn’t arrived yet, but cross-platform messaging between Messenger and Instagram is clearly one step in this grand plan. The announcement promised new privacy and security features across the board, including end-to-end encryption, ephemeral messages, and reduced data retention. Competitionįacebook announced their intention to merge Facebook Messenger, Instagram Direct, and WhatsApp in March 2019. To put it simply, you now have “ Instagram Messenger.” After the “update,” you have in essence Facebook Messenger inside of Instagram. And the “new version” is a new messaging system that links Instagram and Facebook. The “old version” Facebook refers to is simply the Instagram Direct messaging app. Images of notification promoting new features with fine print at the bottom "When you update, the old version won’t be available." ![]()
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