(1/3) Content.
A few years ago, there was this thing called ‘top 9’ that would periodically go viral on Instagram. It was basically a 3 x 3 grid of your ‘top 9’ posts of a given time period: you’d give it your handle and within a few seconds, it’d generate your top 9 post images of the year, based on engagement. IIRC is was yearly, but I could be wrong. It was interesting because it (a) helped contextualize your own posting habits, (b) helped contextualize what people genuinely enjoyed seeing from you and (c) allowed you to see what other people’s posting habits were like. I was never really clear on the mechanics of everything, or even who offered the best ‘top 9’ service, but one thing was clear: people loved it.
And then…I dunno…it just kinda disappeared. I don’t know if people grew tired of it (how?) or if the IG algo deprioritized those types of posts, or if IG blocked their API access (as they’re know to do) or something else…and I didn’t bother to look it up. But I haven’t seen a Top 9 in years, kinda regrettably. On the surface I find it kind of odd…because…Instagram is really just like this wall that you write to and…given that it’s like a wall of data, why wouldn’t they let you at least try to understand your data or have fun with your data? ‘Insights’ tells you about your numbers, but it’s like super boring and technical. I don’t know why IG deprioritizes apps that give them more content, but they do. So. I don’t know. IG - if you’re listening - let’s bring back the Top 9!
Sneakerheads generally partake in Instagram a bit more than other social networks. And that’s largely because sneakers - being a functional and visual medium - thrive on networks that highlight the visuals. And so any little bit of validation for the visuals really keeps the momentum going. I can’t tell you how many people I know who’ve posted something that went semi-viral and consequently switched up their whole vibe after a taste of virality. I’ve done it myself - countless times - in hopes of learning more about the mechanics as a whole (and in hopes of figuring out how to go viral again and again and again).
But so when the top 9 died, I noticed something similar that took its place: Spotify’s ‘Wrapped’.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, Spotify is a music streaming platform - probably the most popular - and ‘Wrapped’ is more or less their way of giving you a visualization of the type of listener you actually are. When you click on your ‘wrapped’ at the end of the year, they essentially give you an interactive report about your listening habits: your top most-played songs of the year, your top artist(s) and albums of the year, how many hours you spent listening, etc. and then they cap it off with some kind of clever editorial notation about what they deem to be your personal taste. It’s cute, kitschy, and it’s fun…and for some reason…people absolutely LOVE to show others what their listening habits are because, I think, deep down, it’s a simple way to express who you are when nobody’s looking.
(Fun rumor: I heard that Spotify hired something like 9000 seasonal workers to launch ‘Wrapped’ this past year. Don’t fact check me on that.)
(And a personal anecdote about ‘Wrapped’: I make fun of Drake on social media every chance I get and I have done such for several years. Even to the detriment of my account - I’ve had dudes threaten me with violence over my disdain for Drake as a cultural figure. If someone asked me ‘do you like Drake’, I’d answer it with a very serious and non-committal ‘meh’ or a full-bellied ‘I mean…’. So imagine my surprise when I learned that my Top Artist of the Year in 2023 was Drake and I was in the top 2% of people worldwide (on Spotify) of Drake listeners. What? )
But…we’re sneakerheads - why are sneakerheads posting about their music listening preferences instead of…?
I think it’s because, as sneakerheads, we don’t really have an option to succinctly compartmentalize our sneakerhead preferences and predilections. There really is no way to even contextualize the sneakers that you’re into when nobody is looking. There really is no way to tell how many times you posted about the ‘Air Trainer 1 Lava’ or the ‘Travis AJ1 Mocha Low.’ And, if you’re like me, there’s really no way to tell what posting on IG makes you feel…right?
I mean. I guess. To us - a bug. To Instagram - a feature. Because if we knew what it was we were really into, would the marketing even work?
The other day I’m looking at my Instagram feed and I’m thinking…’damn, I’ve put something like 13 years into this product and although I’ve got a cool group of people following me, I really don’t even know what it is that I post about. I mean, obviously, I post sneakers. But I’m always saying that it’s more than that. But what is it? Wouldn’t it be a shame if IG just decided to delete my account (again) and I had no way to retrieve the countless hours I put into it?’ It happened to me twice in 2020 and 2021 and it was devastating, even though I eventually got my account back. But, again, to think of this thing I really poured my heart and sole into for a good chunk of my life and tomorrow it could just be gone. Like gone gone. With no one to even complain to. It just seems wrong. And brutal. Doesn’t it? Even beyond that, I can’t even search my own archive, I can’t filter or sort it: there really isn’t much I can do with it (other than just point to it as a relic of my existence). Insanely frustrating. Like many of you, I’ve put countless hours and days and weeks and months and years into building this…almost…static wall of my sneaker stream of consciousness…and I can’t even protect it!
For fear of being erased from the internet entirely, I decided I needed to figure out a solution for myself. I found a way to download my own personal IG archive. And it was pretty easy. But my archive was pretty substantial. About 20+ zip files at about 1 GB/each. It was a mess of images and json files and…all kinds of data. I had to use a bit of AI to help me unfurl the whole thing. And after much trial and error, I uploaded it to my own website and decided to put search and filter and sort capabilities on it. And it came out pretty damn good. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than what I had before (which was essentially nothing). I started referring to it as my ‘archive.’
But then I thought…with all of this data that I created and managed to save for myself…could I learn something from it?
Take it from me - an ex-Wall Street analyst - there is always something hidden in the data.
What follows is a little week-long journey with myself, my Instagram, and an AI bot…more to come next week. If you need something to look at before then…feel free to look around:
‘Content.’
I’m pretty sure top 9 is still around but it kind of died when Instagram introduced slides. Now everybody dumps. I used dumps on purpose because it’s mostly crap. Mine included.
There’s a lot of people out here trying to master Instagram and instigate a follow (shout out RTJ) and we see their posts get formulaic after they do go viral. I’ve paid attention to the people and the posts when I’ve seen accounts blow up. Both become less authentic.
Posts become more polished. Conversation gets shorter. There’s a vulnerability lost as they become the “expert.”
I don’t know where I’m going with any of this, but these are things I’ve though before and through reading your thoughts.