SXSWorld
Issue link: https://sxsw.uberflip.com/i/1077885
SXSW.COM | F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9 | SXS W O R L D 1 7 "Instagram's origin story combines pivoting, serendipity and astute reading of user habits." Some of its other tools have been geared towards user privacy, including the ability to archive old posts from public view, share stories with limited groups of friends, send messages that disappear after viewing, and turn off comments for posts. This level of customization allows the rare opportunity for a woman to publicly post a selfie without the risk of unwanted, unsolicited com- ments on her appearance. It also allows users to create a smaller, more private and more ephemeral experience for themselves, with a great deal of control over how their posts are viewed. None of that was accidental, which speaks to the founders' early intentions to make it a nice place to spend time. While it's impossible to know what a service will become as its users make it their own, it is possible to decide how it should feel to use it. In an interview last year, Krieger said "... it wasn't that we thought we could fight every single battle, but we were trying to set a tone. I think the tone you set early really matters." Systrom has been fairly candid publicly with his personal concerns about how social media works, and how it impacts its users. During an inter- view at an event hosted by the tech publication The Information, he said that he thought it was unhealthy for platforms to increase ads and notifications to boost earnings. And in a conversation reported by Kara Swisher in The New York Times, he emphasized how little the effects of these platforms are understood, comparing them to gravity before Newton. "There are certain rules that govern it, and we have to make it our priority to understand the rules, or we cannot control it," Systrom told Swisher. How Systrom and Krieger plan to proceed next, whether that involves a way to under- stand the physics of social media or a way to nurture it as a kinder place, is a true bil- lion-dollar question. Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger will be Interactive Keynote speakers at SXSW 2019. Check schedule.sxsw.com for more details. Kevin Systrom