What matters

What does it matter in the end?

It is impossible not to take stock once we reach December.

It comes natural to make a division of what we put into the basket of good things we take into the new year and what we decide to throw away once we pass midnight on the 31st.

There is a superstitious ritual one can take part in on the night of the last day of the year, depending on where one is.

This ritual requires making fire and smoke, which is crucial for the success of the ceremony. One simply writes on a sheet of paper everything we have decided to leave behind, everything we no longer want to be part of our future life starting in the New Year. Alternatively, as a complement to the ritual, one can build a wooden idol, to which we attribute all evil, as if it were a witch to be burnt at the stake (witches beware!).

A stake is just what will happen.

Once a suitable and safe place has been found, the fire can finally be lit. The suitability of the place is defined by the low possibility of creating a fire and the sentimental mood of the individual person. A very nice place to burn the idol with the sheets tied is a country road under a starry sky, in the cold, at the stroke of the new year. The fire can then be extinguished with the bubbles of sparkling wine.

Once a suitable and safe place has been found, the fire can finally be lit. The suitability of the place is defined by the low possibility of creating a fire and the sentimental mood of the individual person. A very nice place to burn the idol with the sheets tied is a country road under a starry sky, in the cold, at the stroke of the new year. The fire can then be extinguished with the bubbles of sparkling wine.

It would be nice to spend the time we are given during this end-of-year break with the knowledge that on the scales, the positive things we carry forward outweigh the negative ones.

True, there are many people who fail to take advantage of these holidays to relax. Driven by the load of stress accumulated during the year, they manage to ruin those few days available to them.

This short reflection is for everyone. Christmas lights are a waste, but also a certainty. They make us happy and illuminate us in the darkness of winter. Panettone and all the sweets are bad for our bodies, but they are a certainty. We have many months before the dress rehearsal anyway. Ugly and useless presents do not make you happy, but they are a certainty. Because in the world of consumerism there is no longer any point in looking for the right gift, because we have already bought it. The thought of someone remembering to go and buy and wrap something for you is nice. Dinners with relatives are long and often tedious, but they are a certainty. We can dedicate a few moments to the people in our family, however it is made up, because then when someone passes away there is no going back.

Ultimately the message is: let yourself go! Like a toboggan glides over the snow, like a log becomes unhurriedly charcoal. Like a snowflake falls to the ground comfortably, like our hands warming at home, slowly

Customise the experience

Customise the experience is a phrase Mosseri himself uses in one of his IGTVs. Not surprisingly, the Shop section shows shopping recommendations customised to the user's tastes and searches, and facilitates the action itself thanks to the possibility of purchasing directly on the App.

What was the reaction of the users?

Going back to the initial question of Does it still work like that?, we close with a new question:

Is it possible that Instagram wants to send a message to companies and content creators who use the platform for commercial purposes, prompting them to implement their own purchasing and customer experience strategies? 

If until now Instagram has been included within communication strategies as one of the digital touchpoints dedicated to the publication of mainly visual content, it now proposes a multifunctional use. 

Within it, in fact, content is no longer only diversified between Feeds and Stories, but proposes a content structure that increasingly leads to the conclusion of an action within the platform itself, such as a purchase.

We give because we care