The Instagram Shift, are we starting to see the beginning of the end of the Influencer trend?

Are we all waking up or are we all fed up? Whatever the answer there seems to be a shift happening right now and I don’t think it’s a bad one. Whilst I am certainly not here to bash anybody in particular (hell I even posted in the past to say how awful it was that people on a certain website were being downright vile about those sharing on Instagram) I certainly feel right now that a lot of people are becoming less tolerant to the posts we are seeing on Instagram.

I’m an avid Instagram fan and I’ve had it since day one, Instagram soon became less about sharing photos of your dinner with family and friends to more about people using it as a platform to get themselves seen and heard by people everywhere, whether that be using their own faces and bodies to become known, sharing their art, hobbies or families, it was happening, followers were growing and people were becoming Insta Famous.

Natural progression saw plenty of these people being picked up by brands to help them advertise, to make their product as known as the people promoting it and soon we all found ourselves needing the tooth whitening kit that “everybody” was using because they all looked great, we wanted the tops they were all wearing, we wanted the necklace they’d all been gifted. As with anything, time bought more change and a set of new rules arose meaning that people promoting any of these items had to label it to make their followers aware of the fact that it was a gift, or of this was infact an ad and they were being paid to promote it.

But even since these rules were applied, there seems to have been another sort of change, I noticed myself that I was getting a little bit tired of these people I so often enjoyed posting yet another ad, trying to make me buy another shampoo with their special code. Here’s another flatlay picture of the products I use to keep my skin looking great (since being paid to do so) Do I blame these guys for doing things like this? Hell no, of course not. If you’re doing well with your account and a known brand wants you to work with you, that’s got to be exciting and a few extra quid isn’t to be sniffed at is it?

When I first started my second Instagram account which was focused on all things parenting (but like everything else mentioned above, has changed over time) I had baby clothing and teething toy companies asking me to be a brand ambassador and I did it for a short while, I didn’t earn anything, mainly grabbed a few freebies and a few discounts and it was a great feeling that my child had been picked to promote these items, but it wasn’t really what I was about, I still enjoy sharing pictures of Ophelia but I’m not forcing her to have a photo taken with a certain item on show. The pictures I share now are normal natural pictures taken while she’s playing, discovering, just doing things that are normal for her. I’m all for sharing products and recommendations to others when it’s necessary but being constantly force fed ads is becoming a bit much and a little bit boring and I don’t think I’m the only one feeling this way.

Many of us seem to be tired of the countless #ad’s we so often see, people are choosing to unfollow those who promote a lot, but something else seems to be going a miss here, we are seeing ignorance, insensitivity all in the name of advertising or self promotion and it doesn’t sit comfortably with me, or others as we are now seeing an influx of people speaking up and challenging what they see.

Instagram seems to be going through another change and it seems it has also become a great platform for the real people to show what actually goes on in their day to day lives, we have SEN parents showing us exactly what their lives entail to keep their children healthy and safe, we have the people showing us the reality of their lives on benefits or a low wage and not being able to buy all of these products constantly being pushed. We have people with disabilities and illness showing us their reality, amongst many other real issues and real lives, this is what I’m enjoying, a real glimpse into what life is like for everyone and opening my eyes to real life for for real people. Yes the big country house and the freshly baked bread posed beautifully next to a vase of fresh flowers is reality for some people and this isn’t to say that they shouldn’t share their lives too, we are all entitled, however Instagram seemed to be taken over completely by this idea of perfection and a lot of it staged. Everything had to be beautiful, nobody wanted to see the real shit, because that doesn’t sell. Who wants to be bogged down by other people’s issues, let’s think happy and lovely thoughts because that’s what sells, that’s what gains followers, that’s what makes you want, or need a product, because it’ll make your life better, it’ll make you beautiful too, it’ll make you feel the perfection you’re seeing on that page for a moment, that’s how advertising works. However the realness is starting to break through, the stories of heartbreaking illness are breaking through, life with disability, life dealing with prejudice, it’s all starting to break through the perfection and I for one am happy about this. Unfortunately not everybody seems to have woken up to this and it shows. Some people are so intent on providing the content and their own feeds that they are completely numb to the real stuff going down and to people’s feelings.

Nevertheless, I love this side of Instagram that’s connecting me with people who share it how it is. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed many of the influencers at their peak and do still have a soft spot for many of the older accounts I follow and genuinely enjoy the content from others, despite the odd #ad, I am also enjoying this shift, I am enjoying the fact that I no longer feel like I need to hide my own illness and my health issues that make me less able bodied because it’s not what people want to see or hear about.

Although they often feel downtrodden by the insensitivity too often displayed on this platform, they keep it real and I think I have found my people!