Ryan Toyota’s Blog

I’ve been seeing a lot of backlash being hurled at Instagram for the latest 3.0 update, even some going so far as to try to organize an Instagram blackout on August 30th (sigh). Most of the upset users seem to be furious at the implementation of Photo Maps. I really don’t understand what’s up with all the hate, as I think the Photo Maps can only be a good thing no matter how you look at it. I think it may be misunderstood. Here’s how it looks from the various viewpoints I can see:

People who want their geotag information shared
Obviously these people are going to love the photo map, as it’s a great new way to see where all of your geotagged photos have been taken. I’ve found it to be quite smooth, attractive and user-friendly. It’s a really fun way to browse my photos as an alternative to the linear feed. The map graphics sometimes take a few extra seconds to load after zooming in, but I’m sure all the wrinkles will be ironed out soon.

People who think geotags are cool but don’t want all of their locations shared
I personally fall into this camp. I’ve loved the idea of geotags since I first heard about them, but I’ve been wary of sharing location information with strangers. Because of this, I avoided geotagging my photos in Instagram for a long time, but a few months ago I decided to start geotagging any photos that weren’t taken at mine or my friend’s homes. This way I can still see where I’ve been on vacation in a really fun way, but I’m not sharing information about my exact whereabouts with anyone. I’m also able to view photos that others have taken in the same locations as the ones I’ve uploaded, which I find really neat.

Instagram 3.0 not only gives me the slick new map, but it also gave me the option to remove the geotag data from the one photo I accidentally tagged at home.

People who are creeped out by geotags and worried about being stalked online
While perhaps extreme, this is a legitimate fear that many people have. This also seems to be the group of people up in arms about Photo Maps. But surprisingly, these are the people for whom I think the new Photo Map feature is the most helpful. I’m guessing these people weren’t aware that their locations were being uploaded with their photos whenever they posted (even though there was a switch for location data on the upload screen). They log in to the new IG 3.0 and are horrified to find a map with the majority of photos showing the world exactly where they live. They proceed to panic, remove all location data, and whine at Instagram about it.

Well, here’s the thing. Your location data was ALWAYS THERE. You decided to upload it along with all of those photos you posted. If someone wanted to stalk you before version 3.0, they could have easily looked at the location data from any of those photos you took at home. Granted, it’s easier to view with the new update, but here’s where Instagram helped you out: they gave you the option to remove any location data you may have mistakenly posted. And as far as I can tell, that’s the first time you’ve been able to permanently delete location data from your photos on Instagram. They even made it super easy to remove location data from the photos taken at specific places, as they’ve grouped the locations together in the review screen. This is a really good thing. If you’ve been wary of sharing location data, Instagram just showed you that you’ve been accidentally sharing it with the world and is now giving you the option to remove it.

So yeah, I don’t see why people are so upset about this. Granted, there are other updates to the app, and I can see not loving the new three-across layout or the borders, but infinite scrolling and finally being able to link to a photo without tweeting it and deleting the tweet first? Seriously I think this is a great update!

Since I haven’t updated my blog in forever, I thought I’d throw a recent video I produced for Hungry For Life on here. This was a long process, as footage for this video was captured in bits and pieces here and there all way back to July. Finally the deadline loomed close enough that this jumped to the top of my priority list at work and I was able to work at putting all of the pieces together. I’m disappointed with the audio in a few places. Lesson learned for the future: a shotgun mic is not as good as a lavalier for interviews. Looking back, I also wish I had spent more time setting up some of the interview shots. They could’ve been framed much better. Some of them were rushed and it shows. I’d also like to go through the final video and do a color grade, but due to my inexperience in that area and lack of time to spend learning it, there’s a good chance it may not happen before this has to be pressed to DVDs. Anyways, all that said, here’s the video:

Well, it’s been what seems like forever since I had a blog. With the new popularity of Facebook, blogs seem to have dropped in popularity and my desire to post to one has been quenched by the wide audience that Facebook offers me.

So what’s changed? Well, I’ve recently helped to set up a website for Pockets of Change that required me to dive back into the world of blog creation and customizing websites. I liked the taste, and I decided that I wanted a blog for myself again. So here it is.

What will become of this blog? I hope for it to become a place where I post my thoughts and opinions about life, music, design and God, and perhaps some tutorials and tips on design and photography. I also want it to become an outlet for my creativity, which I’ve been holding back from doing at Facebook recently because of the whole Terms of Service uncertainty. It’s not that I’m scared that Facebook will mess with my photos, but I realized that I don’t have a lot of freedom with posting creative content to Facebook, so I’d rather post it on my own site anyway.

So there you have it. One small post, with hopefully many to follow. This first post feels rather rough, but I just wanted to get something out there. With luck someone will see it, like it, and return to read another.