I started my account back in 2022 and was pleasantly surprised by how easy I found it back then to build community and find like minded individuals. I ended up joining a local book group through bookstagram, and I've been fortunate enough to make friends IRL from it, but now 4 years on I feel like it's changed so much for the worst.
I don't know if it's really a place for people to connect over books anymore as much as it's a market tool for publishers and a place where people seek validation through engagement and an audience over genuinely wanting to connect with people.
The app itself has become really over stimulating. There's so many ads now on stories and the main feed and I find there's just too much going on now with posts, stories and reposts.
This makes it hard to see the posts of people we're following and vice versa.
So many of the comments and interactions have started to feel increasingly superficial and transactional. It feels like so many people don't want to put any effort into reading other people's posts and reviews and instead just comment things like "gorgeous covers" or "I really want to read this" to build up engagement on their own page.