Unless you’ve been living under a rock (photographing beasties that live under rocks) you’ll of probably seen the mass exodus of wildlife photographers migrating from Instagram to Vero. In this article, we take a quick look at Vero vs Instagram.
Vero isn’t a newcomer to the game of Social Media Platforms and was founded in 2018. So why does it look like everyone is moving over to Vero?
I think wildlife photographers are getting fed up with Instagram’s algorithms.
Ok so let’s first look at what an algorithm actually is. Most social media platforms use algorithms to steer what a user (you and me) experience whilst using their platform. They learn what we and other like to engage with and on each visit, it’ll offer up what it thinks we’d like to see. They are very complicated programming scripts that are very hard to understand.
So why are people fed up with Instagram?
Wildlife photographers have seen a huge drop in engagement with their posts. It feels like their posts aren’t reaching anywhere near the number of people they used to. This means fewer comments, shares and likes.
We are also seeing a lot more sponsored posts in our feed and hardly seeing posts from users we follow. and that’s why we are on these platforms right?
To see and be inspired by other wildlife photographers’ work and experiences.
So what makes Vero any different?
Vero is very much like Instagram in the many ways that it functions. The biggest difference is it doesn’t use algorithms. You can’t at the moment buy space in someone’s feed in the form of advertising. So… you follow someone, they post something, it shows in your feed amongst others’ posts and it’s all in chronological order. This method cures the pains people are having with Instagram.
Are Wildlife Photographers not using Instagram now?
Many wildlife photographers, including myself, are now using both. Instagram is hard to step away from. You may have amassed a decent following on there and it feels daunting to have to start again with Vero.
We’ve seen waves of users moving to Vero over the past four years and it looks like it’s the Wildlife Photographers’ turn to wash up on its shores.
This could mean that Vero for wildlife photographers will lose momentum and speed when its users aren’t seeing the engagement they’d hoped for.
One important aspect to consider is to be a member of any social media channel is free. They’re not a charity, they are in the business of making money and their revenue comes from users seeing and engaging with advertisements.
Vero vs Instagram – who wins?
We definitely won’t see Instagram’s downfall from wildlife photographers moving to Vero. Instagram usage will still stay strong and we’ll probably see many wildlife photographers sticking with Instagram. I personally hope to see Vero thrive more and not become a trend that fizzled out due to a lack of enthusiasm and engagement from its users.
Are you a Vero user?
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