YSK: Pixelfed replaced Instagram for me, the same way Lemmy replaced reddit.

𝐘Ⓞz҉@lemmy.world to You Should Know@lemmy.world – 820 points –

Guys check out pixelfed. Its better than Instagram.Same concept of fediverse as Lemmy and Mastodon.

Website: https://pixelfed.org

Servers: https://pixelfed.org/servers

Even has a android client called pixeldroid on fdroid.

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I love the idea of this, but the only reason I check Instagram is to see what my friends are posting, which I couldn’t do on an alternative, sadly.

That really is an issue. Shave your head, put an orange robe on and evangelize... I'll try to convince as many people as possible in my friends circle!

This is actually why I’m excited for ActivityPub in Threads. I’m hoping that it can function as a gateway drug to the Fediverse.

“Like Threads? Then continue to follow all your friends there while moving to an ad-free Mastodon client!”

Totally, I really wish the panic would die down. I'd love it if I could bring my friends over here, and there's no way they're going to do that without something like Threads.

I use Instagram (well, Instander) for the bands I like. I wish I didn't have to but it's useful for these reasons. Ditched Facebook but unfortunately can't loose them both 😤

This is why I have a barebones Facebook account. Simply so people can reach me that only use that.

This being said it is also sandboxed into web browsers and I refuse to give them permissions for my phone.

Same for me. Same with Snap. I've never used SnapChat before, but once I actively went to parties it's impossible to not use it.

Instagram also has a full account data export feature, and Pixelfed can import from that data. When I used it earlier this week it seemed to ignore my latest posts, which use the webp format instead of jpg or png. But since the import is processed server-side once they resolve that I should be able to import from the same zip and get just those missing posts.

I didn't know this was possible! Thanks for sharing, will give this a try.

I don't really understand how that would work. I'm on Instagram because I follow some specific artists, collectives, companies, labels, etc., and secondarily for friends. If those are not on Pixelfed, what is there to follow?

Although Lemmy suffers of quite a content draught on less populated communities, it still works like Reddit since you follow topics, not people.

Hate the be a downer but I can’t see anyone but “tech savvy” people joining this. I can’t even get my sister to verify her Zelle account to get money I sent her. Having to choose a server is going to be wildly confusing to most people.

Out of curiosity how would you choose a server? I joined Lenny.ml as it was the first one I saw.

I joined after the Apollo debacle started with Reddit, so I joined what had the most users at that moment and it was lemmy.world. But I already had a good idea of how these federated apps work, so I wasn’t super worried about which I picked. I imagine a random normie instagram user would delete the app as soon as they saw the list of servers, if they even got that far.

well do you know what "ml" stays for in your full user name?

Just so you know the ml stands for marxist lennist I’m pretty sure

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They will adapt or be left behind, at least for a while. In fact, that might be a good thing.

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Instagram differs from Reddit in the sense that most people use Instagram because that's where their friends and family are. You're posting more personal things there. An alternative doesn't really work for most users if no one they know is using it. Good luck with the push, though.

Yeah this is the issue I have. I wouldn't even be on instagram if it my friends weren't on it. Pixelfed has a much tougher road to snatch users than a place like Lemmy or even Mastodon for that reason. If everyone I know hopped over with me (which let's be real, I would never be able to get everyone to do that because they would run into the same issue with their own friend networks) then i'd gladly move over.

Maybe I should give it a try. I've been on instragram for like 10 years and I'm quite proud of the quality of content on my page (smartphone nature photography) but I only have like 23 followers and posting there seems like talking to trees. Why even bother if people rather watch short videos instead of photos.

Yep you need pretty girls in your photos, shorts, reels, stories, 20hashtags per image, and co stant interaction bait just to gain some bot followers

I quit a few years back and do not miss it.

I mean, yes if your goal is to have many followers on Instagram. I mainly use Instagram to share stuff with family and friends, because this is the only app which all of them use.

What's your Instagram address?

Or better: open a second parallel account on Pixelfed. And let us know your account.

For some unsolicited advice, you could do better with networking on Instagram through hashtags, following similar people and browsing their work. I posted desolate building photos for 2-3 years and ended up with ~500 followers, which isn’t really much but a lot more than 23.

They have made the algorithm steadily worse over the years, though. Back in 2013-2014 people I knew from a niche art community ended up with 5-50k and since then it has slowed down a huge amount. People whose followers increased by 20,000 from 2014-2016 have increased by maybe 3,000 in the subsequent 7 years.

Yeah I've been using hashtags but probably incorrectly because I'm tagging what's actually on the photo and not what the popular hashtags are. I'm also posting quite irregularly.

I'm not trying to grow a big audience or anything. I'll keep taking photos for myself nevertheless but I'd also like to share the best ones with others but with intagram it just feels like waste of time. On twitter I post about just as often but there I have 1600 followers (of which a significant portion is bots though)

If you want people to see your work, you have to find the popular hashtags for your niche. Check out photos by people who post similar stuff and see what they use. For my stuff I could have labeled them #door #abandonedbuilding or #oldstorefront but the tags in popular use are more like #facadelovers #windowshiding and #ihavethisthingwithwalls.

I like pixelfed. I have a pixelfed account, and feature-wise, I see how it could replace someone's use of instagram, but personally, I was never on instagram for its features. I was on instagram because I made friends in real life who I couldn't keep in touch with in absolutely any other way. Meanwhile, I am on pixelfed because I like the idea of a federated social media platform based around images, but I have zero connections on that platform.

I posted to it twice. Then, I realized that, unless I could convince the people that I knew on instagram to join pixelfed, it would never be the same experience, so I stopped. I would just rather post pictures to my mastodon account which has more reach than my pixelfed. The concept of an image based social media platform is less compelling when you don't know anyone there, and this is what Meta is banking on.

Sure, there are alternatives to Instagram that are better, but all of my IRL friends & family are on Meta platforms already and don't want to leave 🤷‍♀️, so what's the point? Even if I manage to convince someone that it is important, they might bail at some point because they can't convince the people they know from instagram to join the alternative, and that's how it is all down the line: friction, friction, friction.

I think you’re spot on. I use Instagram for one niche sport I do, hydrofoil surfing. Everyone who foils is on there, and as a result the development speed of this 5-year-old sport is incredible. Someone in Australia invents a new maneuver, posts a video of it, and a few hours later while they’re sleeping people in America are trying it out.

None of that is happening on pixelfed. I tried it out too, and, meh. There’s just nothing interesting on there, and it’s too complicated to explain to non techies. So there’s a huge barrier to entry and no compelling reason to surmount it. Heck, I have an advanced degree in informatics and I barely made it over the choose an instance wall. My perma-stoned surfing buddies don’t stand a chance.

Here's a good reason. Since Facebook likes to spy on you, I put Instagram on my work profile on Android, effectively sandboxing it. I'd had the account for several years at this point. Just the other day, it told me that my account had been flagged for violating the rules and trying to access data I wasn't supposed to have access to. It asked me to upload an image of myself with a code written on a piece of paper to prove I wasn't a bot, and they still deleted my profile and said I was acting as a bot and that I could not appeal the decision or talk to a human about it.

I agree it's a bit of a pain to get people to join these nerd apps, but man, it beats dealing with non-interactive bot/algorithm, punishing you for fighting back against having your information stolen.

The only reason I use Instagram is to see my friends' statuses. I don't use Snapchat, so it's basically the only way for me to see what others are doing. Reddit didn't really have any personal aspect, so it was easy to switch to Lemmy. But I don't think I'm gonna leave Instagram anytime soon.

ditto for that. only in there to see friends and i havent posted for years.

I'm using a third party instagram app though. so, UP YOURS ZUCK THE ANDROID!

which app do you use?

yeah I need a 3rd party app for insta too Their official app is a privacy eating pest hence I use it on chrome android

am also very curious, didnt know this was possible. a more privacy-friendly instagram app would be amazing

@Yoz I've been on Pixelfed for about a year; highly enjoyable. All the good of instagram without the celebrities and "influencers". I also follow my Pixelfed account from my mastodon so I can boost to all of my mastodon followers as well.

I've never used Instagram before but I would like to start posting photos, however the vibe I'm getting from Pixelfed is this is a medium for photography art. I'm learning to facet gemstones and thought it would be cool to do photos of my gems that I cut to show my talent progress. Would that kind of non-photography art fit in on Pixelfed?

yes. I follow some guy (gal?) who does ceramic jewelry work. the only way to make the fediverse more interesting is by adding multiple perspectives, hobbies and interests. your content will undoubtedly be welcomed.

Thank you for the reassurance, I think I will share my hobby once I start! Maybe someday you'll see a gemstone on your feed and recognize my name. 😄

@meggied90 I'm not a photographer in any sense; I literally post the same things I would have posted on instagram - restaurants, things I see on daily walks, family photos. I follow people who post their exercises/run routes, dogs, whatever. I got the same initial vibe you mentioned, but I assure you, it has been an extremely welcoming community to me.

@Yoz

Thank you! You're soothing my nervousness quite a bit lol, I'll take the plunge and start posting as soon as I have my equipment!

yes. I follow some guy (gal?) who does ceramic jewelry work. the only way to make the fediverse more interesting is by adding multiple perspectives, hobbies and interests. your content will undoubtedly be welcomed.

What is there to do? Is it just meme accounts or did your friends start using it too?

I mostly use instagram to interact with IRL friends and follow some meme accounts, so I’m curious what this app even looks like if my friends aren’t on it.

What are some good places to follow on Pixelfed? I haven't had much luck finding accounts that appeal to me. I'd love to replace Instagram, but their algorithm is so damn good, and I'm struggling to find stuff that compares (which I'd expect since it doesn't hold the same "influencer" weight and has a smaller community to begin with)

Unlike Lemmy, instagram and twitter rely heavily on their content creators.

No content creators, no followers, no traffic.

Are there any mobile apps for pixelfed?

The creator has an official app pending in the iOS App Store right now.

In addition, they’re releasing a “log in with Mastsdon” feature within like the next 24 hours.

Creator here: https://mastodon.social/@dansup

Yes, several. An official app and a good number of other 3rd party apps.

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I only wish it was easier for me to find people to follow, really wish more people I knew IRL joined PixelFed

You can't be on what amounts to the bleeding edge of Social Media and expect your friends to be as well unless they're all nerds that actually care about such things (like all of us clearly are).

No social media site started with millions of users and all of your friends. They all started small, and slowly grew to that size.

Well said, the problem is, I post nothing on instagram. So my presence on pixelfed is not at all a reason for anyone in my circle to join lol. I imagine since we're all the nerds of our families/friend-groups here, this is probably the case for a lot of us.

The only reason I use Instagram is because everyone I know IRL is on there.

Same with snapchat.

Same for me. Last time I posted there was eight years ago. I only keep it installed for the occasional message from an old friend.

I basically only use it to keep in contact with dealers because they somehow only want to use snapchat. It's not even encrypted.

BuT tHE mEssAGEs DiSaPPEar! So it has to be secure, who needs encryption anyways?

And the frustrating part is that even WhatsApp has dissappearing messages. As much as I hate WhatsApp, it's encrypted.

Is the instance admin able to view posts/messages of private accounts like they can do on Lemmy?

Your private messages are never private unless you're on a platform that specializes in private messages (Signal. Matrix, WhatsApp (if they are to be believed), XMPP via OMEMO...)

I understand that encryption will not be present but the software should atleast not allow the admins to view the private pictures or messages by default as part of admin tools.

I wouldn't use this until I'm assured of that as posting pictures can lead to being doxxed or they can be found in some unpleasant places on the internet if the admin is not trustworthy

Love PixelFed, I just like chronological and tag based systems. This way every user gets an equal opportunity to be seen. Unlike what's happening with recommendation systems, where only a few super stars are pushed by the algorithms. If anyone like traditional illustrations, here's my profile: https://pixelfed.social/i/web/profile/495699973550816234

Pixeldroid is a third party app. Pixelfed has their own official app as well if that matters to anyone.

Taking a quick glance of Pixelfed now, and while I don’t think I quite understand it, I didn’t really understand Instagram either

Tusky, the Mastodon app for Android, works with pixelfed as well.

As does Fedlab (also for Android, more ActivityPub oriented than specifically Mastodon).

Fedilab works well with Pixelfed, Mastodon, Friendica, and most generic ActivityPub servers. The big outlier is Lemmy. I can't log onto my Lemmy account from any AP client I use; maybe the model is too different. Does AP understand the concept of "communities?"

Unfortunately, I can't say the same thing that happened with reddit can happen with instagram/snapchat/Twitter simply because their users don't give a fuck. The familiarity and existence of large content creators on those platforms create a much greater reluctance for their users to make the switch. Better alternatives for all have existed for years and yet no change took place because quality or ideology just wasn't the reason people preferred those apps. It was what it is and even for me, similar to many people, making the swith just isn't sensible as it wouldn't mean shit without convincing 300+ people im connected to to make the switch with me and then again, they don't care.

I don't understand Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, so I really have no use for Pixelfed or Mastodon.

Edit: I really don't know why my top level comments get posted as a reply...

I enjoyed Instagram in its early days when it was mostly just photography instead of what it is now when even photographers have to turn photos into videos to reach anyone

Your comment is a top level comment, not a reply. At least it is on kbin.social. What are you using?

I never used Instagram. I've tried Pixelfed and I don't quite get it. Sure, you post pictures with captions, but I feel like there is emptiness. When I scroll through my followed users, I just see some art and photographs. I don't know if I'm doing anything wrong, but Pixelfed doesn't seem very active for me.

I only use Instagram to follow public figures, so moving to Pixelfed is a no-no.

I do enjoy Pixelfed, but export is a bit limited right now. If you have more than 500 posts, you can't (as far as I can tell) export your data, Not that I want to at the moment, but I do like to take backups of my stuff just in case. I imagine the dev is working the issue, though.

I love seeing pictures of the world from other people's perspective. Urban shots. Nature shots. Any old boring shots like just a side road you walk down, or a tree you like to sit under. I like being able to see the quiet places in the world as well as the loud ones.

If that describes a lot of anyone's posts, add me there and I will follow you back https://pixelfed.social/i/web/profile/577121287304400256

Thanks for the recommendation! Trying it out and liking it so far :)

It definitely is a good alternative for the original Instagram idea (a place for photographers to share their pictures) before Meta bought Insta and turned it into Facebook 2.0.

the best thing is for people like me who just used instagram to lurk it works really well with mastodon or calckey. just follow whoever you like and it'll show up in your feed no problem

Pixelfed seems to only show Mastodon posts with an image attached. Which seems intuitive when you think about it, but the user profile page is a bit wonky as the summary line lists a different number of posts for the person than what it shows for that person's feed. Vice versa, following Pixelfed profiles from Mastodon, seems much more consistent so far.

I wanna give it a try, but I've been looking at the servers and I haven't found the one for me and what I'll use the account for. Nor do I know of any account on a pixelfed server I could be interested in following...to just follow accounts on completely different federated servers it wouldn't make any sense to me.

Oh I forgot about this. Just tried it, awesome. Low user count for my niche interest but I hope it can grow

A great Pixelfed client for iOS is Vernissage.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vernissage-for-pixelfed/id1663543216

I was trying that one, but I think I like Tusker better and it can do both Mastadon and Pixelfed.

Ah, I didn’t like Tusker at all as a Mastodon client and went with Ivory. But, I’ll give it a chance as a Pixelfed client and see how it goes.

This inspired me to try Ivory with Pixelfed and it works!

I’m new to mastodon and pixelfed. I had just used the original mastodon app which I don’t think works yet with pixelfed. I am going to try ivory now as I was not thrilled with Tusker either but I liked it better then vernisegge or whatever. So far ivory looks amazing! $15/yr isn’t bad either.

I'm using Pixelffed to get replace Imgur and IG at the same time. One, it's federated image site I can use to share image links on Lemmy. Two, while I haven't found any of my social circle on there, it let's me see all pictures posted throughout the Pixelfed fediverse while a lot from Mastodon. I like this feature because it helps me expand my exposure to users and images I wouldn't have seen otherwise on IG.

I feel like instagram is one one of those apps - at least the way I use it - that relies on a lot of your irl friends having it as well. I would love for them to be open to signing up to some fediverse platform but we're not there right now sadly.

Yeah I’m curious if all the people in the comments that say they are using and enjoying it also have friends that signed up or if it’s just all meme accounts.

Exactly what I've been looking for! Does it include photo editing tools?

I would need an app on the Play store though, my phone doesn't allow sideloading.

Is it possible to install a custom ROM on your phone? Would never use one that does not allow anything as basic as side loading

No to the custom ROM option. It's due to my employer's security policy. I would also never pay for a phone that I couldn't fully control and customise but... I didn't have to pay for this one. The main cost is losing sideloading.

You use your work phone as your daily driver? 😕

Yes?

I mean no disrespect at all I am simply curious as to why you do that. Do you also use a work laptop as your own?

I used to do tech support and a whole lot of people used their work devices as their own and I just do not understand why.

I don't use my work laptop as my personal one, i have a personal gaming PC and tablet. If i didn't have my tablet i might temporarily use the work laptop for personal stuff when travelling, instead of buying a laptop just for that.

Reasons for using the work phone: i don't need to spend a lot of money duplicating the hardware i already have for free; i don't need to pay for a phone/data plan to service that second device; i don't need to carry two phones around (since i need to have the work one anyway).

Any particular reason you have in mind why one should not use their work phone? Or why is this surprising to you? Also not meant disrespectfully, only trying to understand where you are coming from.

Thanks for the response. Its weird to me because it's technically not yours and at any time the company could do a something that wipes it, asks for it back or does any number of things and you'd have to go through a lot to back up all your stuff. Or be out of luck if one day they decide to implement a policy that removes access to some app you like to use.

Not related to you in any way but I had this one lady who had a company phone and she went and got all these accessories and stuff and when we switched phones she was livid about all these things she bought. I felt bad for her but like...it's not your phone lol.

That's all true (unlikely it gets wiped, but definitely technically possible), but i accept it as part of the 'deal'. My personal data is automatically backed up, if the phone got remote wiped at any point it wouldn't matter. I know i will need to give it back eventually, but i will have skipped a generation of device (and data plan) in the meantime.

The story with the lady is funny, not sure how she thought it would work.

What phone do you have?

It's not so much the phone (Samsung S22) as that it's controlled by my employer's security policy (which prevents sideloading).

Try fedilab it across almost all the fediverse

You're using your work phone for personal leisure?

At least in Finland it's normal for some employers to offer to pay for your phone and plan and you can use the same phone all the time for both, personal stuff and work.

Yes, why not? It arrived with separate profiles for work and personal.

Is there even a proper mobile app for Android and iOS yet? Pixelfed won’t take off because the concept is dependent on a smartphone app.

I made an account on 2 servers and downloaded 3 different apps for it and it's not working but I'll try again later

Why don't followed tags show up in my feed on pixelfed

yep, the same for me. lately my home feed of reddit a bit boring for me. maybe way less content. even i used apollo with custom own api to ignore their official app, i ended up opening memmy and mlem. memmy for lemmy.world and lemmy.ml while mlem for lemmynsfw.com instance. my nsfw stuff now can have separate app. lol. but im happy

If you like Lemmy, you should really try out Kbin. Its mostly the same but better. You can still sub all your lemmy communities but with a much more modern interface.

Kbin looks way too much like the latest version of Reddit that is over designed and cumbersome.

Plenty of third party apps popping up for lemmy with Apollo like UI/UX that is much better (like wefwef or Memmy for example).

Yeah I was on Kbin but got tired of the UI. Plus there are no apps for it.