Bree Rose, a popular travel photographer and content creator, has made a living posting stunning photos on her Instagram for years, from mountain vistas in Washington state to bright blue swimming holes in Mexico and whimsical castles in France.
After getting her first big brand deal in 2018, she was able to go full-time with content creation in 2019 and has been doing that since. Rose’s account, @eyeofshe, has more than half a million followers.
But she said social media just isn’t what it used to be.
“I spent six years where I feel like I really mastered a skillset. I mastered my style of photography for me and for my brand,” Rose told Business Insider. “And then Instagram started wanting to compete with TikTok.”
Whereas in the past, it was possible to make great content, post it on your page, and get rewarded with engagement, Rose said she feels like succeeding on the platform today requires a constant grind and keeping up with every new trend. She said it no longer feels like creativity is being rewarded in the same way, despite Instagram’s branding as a platform for creatives.
Rose is not alone among Instagram creators who have complained about a decline in engagement and reach or about the platform’s transition to video despite its origins as a photo-sharing app. She said she’s talked to plenty of influencers who feel the same way she does — that social media companies don’t care about the people who actually fill their apps with great content.
“You absolutely feel disposable,” she said, discussing how she thinks the companies view influencers. “A lot of us pioneered this whole travel-creator world, and it’s sort of just like, ‘Okay, thanks. You use our platform — awesome. All we really want is billions of more people doing this.'”
Meta, Instagram’s parent company, did not respond to a request for comment from BI about Rose’s specific concerns.
Some creators feel like the platforms don’t care about them
Certainly part of the change is the sheer number of people trying to be influencers, increasing competition.
A Morning Consult poll conducted last year found that 57% of Gen Zers surveyed said they would like to become an influencer. Goldman Sachs analysts have estimated that the creator economy will be worth $480 billion by 2027.
As a result of the influx of newer influencers, longtime content creators are seeing a decline in their audience engagement.
“Creators that were able to get a big buzz or get a huge following back in the day, they’re experiencing some drop-off,” Julia Broome, a social-media manager, previously told Business Insider.
Rose said she thinks part of that is Instagram not showing her content to the vast majority of her followers. She said some of her followers have wondered why she does not appear in their feeds. Years ago, when she had closer to 200,000 followers, she said a photo might get 28,00 likes. Now, she said, a similar photo might get 6,000 likes even though she has twice as many followers.
Bree Rose said she spent years mastering photography only for Instagram to pivot to video.
Bree Rose
She also sees the platform turning into a “weird, copycat rabbit hole,” and that several creators will post the exact same shot at the exact same waterfall or post videos of the exact same top five places to eat in Los Angeles. It’s basically the exact same content, just from a different creator and on a different account.
She said some longtime creators she knows have been able to continuously grind and evolve with the platform or make strong enough of a personal connection with their followers that they have not seen as big a drop-off in engagement.
But she and others she has spoken to feel like they’re left with trying to “feed the beast” — the never-ending demand for on-trend content — just to “get a little bit of that attention back because a lot of our accounts have been forgotten.”
Content creation can take a toll on mental health
Rose said she’d like to see more transparency from social media companies about their algorithms and how they decide what content to promote.
Social media companies are regularly making promises to address concerns about the mental health of their users, especially kids, including in front of Congress. She thinks they should also be having open conversations about how they can protect the mental health of their creators.
For one, she feels like if she takes a break from social media, the platform then punishes her account by serving it to fewer people resulting in fewer views, but sometimes she needs those breaks.
“I feel like they want you to feel like you constantly have to be online,” she said, adding, “It’s become this endless hamster wheel that just keeps going faster and faster, and you’re just trying to keep up.”
Meta did not respond to a request for comment about this. The company has a website dedicated to resources for Instagram creators, including tips and explanations about its ranking system and algorithms. There is not a specific section addressing creator mental health, though a blog post from Mental Health Awareness Month in 2023 briefly addressed the issue.
Rose recently posted to Instagram about how much she has been struggling with content creation and was shocked by how big of a response it got, including from fellow creators who said they are feeling the same way.
She said influencers are often hesitant to discuss things like this because strangers online will criticize them for not acknowledging how privileged they are for doing things like traveling for a living.
“I understand my privilege. I started from being a backpacker and having no money,” she said, adding she still loves her job and sees herself working in social media long-term. “But it doesn’t take away from the fact that it is a constant grind, and there are a lot of mental health issues that come from doing it.”
Have a news tip or a story to share about influencing or content creation? Are you a content creator who wants to share your perspective? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@businessinsider.com.
