2022 was a mixed year for Instagram, with the platform reaching a new milestone in monthly active users (2 billion), while also repeatedly copying TikTok and seemingly losing its own identity, at least to some degree, in the process.
The biggest challenge for IG seems to be that it’s no longer a unique app. Its tools and features are all so derivative that it’s not a cultural leader anymore, not in the way that it once was, while its insistence on highlighting more content from users that you don’t follow has seen the app stray further from its roots, and into a sort of void between YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, and even Facebook of times past.
