Just when you think you have cracked the code on how to get your social media posts seen, some one comes along and decides that it needs to be "fixed". The final result of that fix resembles what happens when you try and insert a picture in to a Word document. The whole thing is suddenly off kilter. You see a hint of what it used to be, but it makes no sense. My least favorite change was when Instagram made "see popular posts" the only timeline option. Of course something is going to get a lot of views if you have to scroll past it each time you want to get to something new. I missed so many events I would have attended, but I didn't see them until after the fact.
Companies like Instagram and it's brethren really want small business users to buy ads in order to be seen. Which would be fine if those ads actually got any views. I remember getting messages from Facebook about my business page saying "Your post is getting 90% more views than other post by you". The posts in question were usually had about 25 views which was not better than 90% of my posts. But if I bought an ad I could probably get 100 more views. Not great numbers. And those numbers they promise are really just people who already follow you, they just don't see your posts organically.
As a solo business I do all the things. I design, make, ship, bookkeeping, supply sourcing and on and on. Social media is also on the list, but it can take so much time. Time I don't really have. But if I don't post "consistently" my views drop. If I don't immediately jump on the latest feature (stories, reels) my views drop. It is the same if my followers don't save or share posts. Recently Instagram informs everyone that it is no longer a photo sharing site. Do they not realize that the vast majority of reels are just copied over from TikTok? If they do, they don't really care.
I have decided that I am leaving the Algorithm behind. If posts get views or don't I am okay with it. I will engage with the people leave comments and enjoy that interaction. I don't need the stress of trying to figure out what changed. Or to add to my already oversized list of tasks. It is a good feeling.