Quietly, without any advanced announcement or warning, photo sharing social media site, Instagram, removed the “post to photomap” option of its mobile app. Only those who recently updated the app in iOS this week noticed it was gone, WERSM noted.
I’m torn but am kind of happy to see it go.
I usually don’t like to police social media because I’m all about live and let live. If you don’t like something someone shares, suppress their feed, scroll on by, block it, ignore it or unfriend or unfollow it, but by all means, don’t complain about it and be a social media cop.
That said, I do admit to being a bit anal when it comes to platform abuse.
For example, I cringe a bit when I see people who use Instagram to solely post memes and inspirational posters. The platform was built for people to share PHOTOS of people, places and things, not words. If you want to post words, head to Twitter or some other platform where most of the content is presented in written form.
Similarly, I noticed that after Instagram added a function to allow people to simultaneously post to Foursquare, all of a sudden, you’d see updates from people’s Instagram’s memes. You would have to wade through all the corny jokes, crass pics and faded joke posters to find someone who had checked-in at a concert or an actual venue.
Again, platform abuse is the wursss!
Foursquare is supposed to help you discover new places and share with your friends the sights, sounds and images of your vantage point from a real PLACE you were visiting at the time.
Confession time.
I abused the platform myself and I also used to abuse Instagram’s photomap option to create a made up place.
So I did.
I would update and assign locations to my photos from places like, “Land of Confusion” or “Shade Alley” or “Tech Stuff” or “That JJ Life!”…well because I could. I thought I was being cute and creative and I noticed that many other people did the same too.
Well.. those days are over. Instagram has updated its app to remove the “Post on Photomap” option.
Now, when you click the “Add Location” option, you are given specific nearby locations as options. You can no longer “create” a make believe place as before.
I’m kind of sad to see the option go, but the occasional social media snob in me kind of like to see this aspect of the IG platform abuse, at least, come to an end.
photo: wersm.com
Jeneba Jalloh Ghatt is an editor and writer for TechYaya. She is a recovering attorney who manages her digital media publishing company while writing for several tech sites. She considers herself a social media butterfly and a tech inclusion advocate. Follow her on @jenebaspeaks
