Reading up on Instagram
17 deep · digging since dec 02, 25
- Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds
A Hacker News discussion argues that social media feeds, including HN, have shifted from connecting friends to delivering addictive content and fads.
- Be There for Every Customer With Meta Business Agent
Meta launches Business Agent AI for WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram, automating customer responses, sales, and operations for businesses of all sizes.
- Can Content Creators Get Rich Off A.I. Slop Like Tung Tung Tung Sahur? - The New York Times
AI-generated slop videos on TikTok and Instagram are becoming a profitable business model for creators like Norbert Barszczewski, who earned over $37,000 in a month through Affiliate Network's viral ad campaigns.
- Meta launches Instants, a new iPhone app and Instagram feature for ephemeral sharing - 9to5Mac
Meta launches Instants, a new iPhone app and Instagram feature for ephemeral photo sharing that disappears after friends view it.
- Moms, Coaches, Doctors, Entrepreneurs: Who Are America’s Health and Wellness Influencers?
4 in 10 U.S. adults, and half under 50, get health information from influencers; 41% describe themselves as healthcare professionals, while coaches and entrepreneurs are also common.
- Have a fucking website
Hacker News commenters generally agree that having a website is beneficial but argue that small businesses face significant practical obstacles, such as technical complexity and customer preference for social media platforms.
- Runners who churn butter on their runs
An Oregon running couple demonstrates how to churn butter by carrying heavy cream in running vests during a trail run, turning it into butter after about an hour of movement.
- An Amish Avatar and an A.I. Monk Are Pitching Supplements on Social Media - The New York Times
Fake AI-generated influencers, such as an Amish avatar and a monk, are increasingly used to pitch supplements on Instagram and TikTok.
- Columbia Student Detained by ICE Promotes ‘Beauty’ and ‘Brains’ Online - The New York Times
ICE detained Columbia student Elmina Aghayeva, whose Instagram promotes beauty and brains, while she avoided political posts unlike other arrested students.
- Facebook is cooked
A user reactivating a long-dormant Facebook account finds the feed overwhelmed by AI-generated slop and spam, a phenomenon commenters attribute to algorithmic cold starts rather than platform-wide decay.
- Mark Zuckerberg Lied to Congress. We Can't Trust His Testimony
A Tech Oversight report documents multiple instances where Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg misled Congress about safety on the company's platforms, including underage privacy protections and content moderation effectiveness.
- Instagram's URL Blackhole
A researcher found an Instagram SQLite database with a URL blackhole table containing 4,629 flagged URLs, mostly phishing links using redirectors like t.co and storage.googleapis.com.
- How to Scale a System from 0 to 10M+ Users
The article outlines seven stages of scaling a system from zero to 10 million users, advocating incremental architecture evolution starting from a single server.
- How Meta’s Reels Became a $50 Billion Business - WSJ
Meta's Reels has grown from a TikTok imitation with no revenue into a $50 billion annual run-rate business, driven by AI recommendations and increased video engagement.
- Looking forward to 2026, one significant interesting is that authenticity is becoming infinitely reproducible.
As AI makes authenticity infinitely reproducible, Instagram's head argues creators matter more by embracing raw aesthetics and skepticism.
- Australia’s Social Media Ban for Under-16s Is Coming. The Teenagers Are Skeptical. - The New York Times
Australia's new law banning under-16s from social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram faces skepticism from teenagers who doubt its effectiveness.
- Instagram chief orders staff back to the office five days a week in 2026
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri mandates five-day in-office work for desk-assigned US staff starting in 2026 to boost creativity.