Instagram Makes a Dumb Move to Be More Like Facebook a Less Like Twitter

What is the future of Instagram? I’ve long enjoyed it as a visual-based social network. Like Twitter for pictures.

Earlier this year Facebook bought Instagram. I’ve always figured Facebook would eventually merge Instagram functionality into a new and improved Facebook mobile application. Instagram makes it easy to post decent looking photos, even from a subpar mobile phone. That’s a feature that would enhance Facebook.

Instead of taking a great feature from Instagram and adding it to Facebook, the opposite has happened. One of the worst features of Facebook has arrived at Instagram.

I have 10,814 followers and follow 16,894 other accounts. Here’s my profile:

 

Today I tried to follow back a new followers and Instagram said: “ Error: You can’t follow anymore people”

Looking into it, I found out that Instagram now allow me to follow only 7,500 other accounts.

I like to comment on my followers pictures and enjoy the exchanges that happen when they comment on mine. With this new hard limit, it means I can’t follow back any of my newest followers.

Even worse, if I want to follow anyone else, I have to unfollow 9,395 accounts first. Do you have any idea how long it takes to unfollow 9,395 accounts?

This is dumb, Instagram.

Punishing loyal early adopters is a bad business move. I thought I’d be using Instagram for a long time come. Now, I doubt it.

Instagram has rendered my account unusable for social networking.

Hard limits are stupid limits. Twitter has a sensible follow/follower ratio that serves a similar purpose in a reasonable way.

Meanwhile, until Instagram comes to its senses… does anyone know of another mobile photo sharing social network I can try out?