Recently I decided to set up a new Instagram account and to write about Tudor watches. I wanted to experiment with simple images and longer form text than you normally see on Instagram. No great ambitions here, just something to do when the thought would strike.

Little did I realise how dominated by businesses, not always the best ones, Instagram is and how much the experience would be ruined within a day.

The moment I posted an image with what I thought were relevant hashtags the responses started to come in. Lots of likes and lots of simple comments like ‘excellent photo’ and so on. It was relentless and did not stop, to the point that its close to impossible to find genuine people who follow because they have an interest in the subject.

And while someone who has thousands of followers no doubt has many genuine people viewing their content, they must be absolutely inundated with spam from Kickstarter outfits and dodgy Chinese creators selling cheap nonsense.

Instagram is no longer a social network to me, apart from posting family photos on my personal account. It is merely a destination for those who lessen the experience immensely. Such a shame.

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