Dear friend,
We’re pausing our social media use, as a company.
For Oolie, that means stepping back from Instagram and Pinterest. We’ll keep our accounts (for now), but are focusing energies elsewhere.
Why? Recent events have left us feeling… gross.
You probably heard that Meta, Instagram’s parent company, recently made a slew of announcements. They are:
- canceling any fact-checking (and dis/misinformation warnings)
- ceasing all diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts
- removing tampons from (some) restrooms
These changes run contrary to our company values. It doesn’t feel right to continue using a platform whose values aren’t aligned with ours.
That’s reason number one.
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The other reason is that Instagram simply isn’t particularly effective at helping us reach and connect with our friends and followers.
Did you know that…
- Followers are fake: Paying for (bot) followers is commonplace. We refused to do it, and insisted on building our base of real people slowly, one at a time. A follower count now is not as meaningful as it was a few years ago.
- Algorithms choose what you see: Oolie is all about having better sleep and a more peaceful home. Our posts don’t trigger feelings of shock, conflict, and outrage. (Yay?) As such, they are deprioritized by the algorithm and not shown to others. That is, you could follow us on Instagram and still never see one of our posts.
- AI is injecting content: Instagram has begun posting its own misinformation into feeds, in the form of “AI slop” — that is, AI-generated profiles, images, and text, masquerading as “real” information. This undermines trust in the entire platform. So, even if you did see one of “our” posts, how could you know it was from us? How would you know that it’s real?
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Pinterest is not as gross, from what we can tell, but it still feels like a good moment to step away, reconnect with our values, and reevaluate.
Is feeding someone else’s algorithm really how we want invest our time and energy?
As I wrote back in November, I’m prioritizing connecting in real life.
How do you feel about social media these days? I’d love to hear.
Sleep well,
Nora
