Instagress (Instagram Bot) service shut down by Instagram.

https://petapixel.com/2017/04/20/instag ... nstagress/

Despite the tragic tone of the message and the sad face at the end, we can’t help but see this is as a big win for the good guys. Not only are these services against IG’s own Terms, they’re transparent, annoying, and just plain sad. If Instagram is finally closing down the bots, awesome! They can take their generic “Great shot *thumbs up*” and “So good!!! *clapping hands*” comments with them.

I'm OK with this. It was getting annoying. I would post a photo of something serious, and there'd be a comment (even from someone I know) that would say "Great Shot! (thumbs up emoji)"

Instagram is the one social platform that in my mind has withstood the test of time thus far. Even the Stories part isn't really irritating. The irony is that Instagram Stories enjoys more usage than all of Snapchat. Go figure.

Unless you are a celebrity or a huge band leveraging something new, bots and shit aren't going to help your cause really.

What I've found helps is just simple quality and technical sophistication. I rarely, if ever, use my phone's built-in camera to capture images (for other accounts I deal with, my personal account, I use whatever's handy...) and video. Even the latest phone cameras pale in comparison to years-old DSLR/ILC sensor output.

The best investment I made was the Apple Lightning to Camera Adapter. I fiddled with wireless solutions but it proved maddening. Simple cable, and I can import still and video files.

From there, I do some basic post-production (Lightroom iOS for photos, Pinnacle or iMovie for video), render out, and publish/broadcast. I'll even add some basic "stupid chyron tricks" for video files. From capture to posting it's maybe a 10-15 minute process.

People dig it, and you get those real followers who are genuinely interested in your output.

I'm by no means an Instagram master, but I've found this works and you don't risk getting hamstrung by the company when they shut down an app or your like factory in SEA.

The longer they let this shit go on, the less value Instagram has when it comes to advertising.

I've seen a ton of "influencer" type accounts that just have totally unreasonable follower counts based on their content. I've seen startup apps that get themselves thousands of followers literally overnight that were all clearly bought.

Instagram should have sued these Instagress clowns - I can imagine they shut down their API key a while back and they probably continued to operate by grabbing various API keys from applications on the web that had them public in their code.

I fucking hate that term - 'influencer' - it's usually some dipshit with no redeeming value. Wannabe social media people usually toss the term around to impress their friends.

And I bet the influencers use Instagress.

"Influencer" is an important term in social media marketing because using them works. They have redeeming value in quantifiable terms. Some people really do matter a lot more than others on social media. The influencers who matter are the ones with the metrics to prove it, not the ones who refer to themselves that way. ROI metrics, not follower metrics. Corollary: Marketers who invest in influencers who can't quantify ROI and who depend on follower counts are risking getting duped.

"Influencer" is an important term in social media marketing because using them works. They have redeeming value in quantifiable terms. Some people really do matter a lot more than others on social media. The influencers who matter are the ones with the metrics to prove it, not the ones who refer to themselves that way. ROI metrics, not follower metrics. Corollary: Marketers who invest in influencers who can't quantify ROI and who depend on follower counts are risking getting duped.

Which is probably 1% of them.

I would love to pick apart an alleged influencer. Run some analytics over a 3 week period on their account and see if they are worth whatever they charge for being a shill. I could picture someone creating any entire product that just does that, provided the amount of $$ changing hands between brands and influencers is significant enough to warrant charging for it.

There are lots and lots of influencer analytics products aimed at tying conversions back to influencer campaigns and quantifying ROI.