Instagram time spent on profile

Instagram is weird. It seems to be a fairly even split of people my age who’s brains are rotted and who only use it for memes mixed with people earnestly posting photos of friends and family. I guess this accurately represents different user cohorts and how they prefer to use the app, but still, it’s strange.

The app is a rat’s nest of content. If you have poor self-control, it’s easy to find an interesting account (like someone who cleans extremely dirty rugs) and burn half an hour mesmerized by the content. Then again, maybe that’s what Saturdays are for.

This got me thinking about some of the metrics and visibility Instagram has added for business and creator accounts lately. What if there was a way to show users how much time someone else had spent looking at their profile?

This could be… alarming for some users. On the other hand, this sort of visibility could be helpful as a way to inform you of who your overly engaged followers are. I don’t think Instagram would do individual users dirty like this, but it’d be wild if they did.

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