It’s no secret that Instagram has gone down the pan recently but Plates could be the next big thing. Recent updates and the way the Insta algorithm favors reels over basically else have forced photographers to find alternative platforms to share their photos where their own hard work and creativity won’t be overshadowed by an influencer with a Pretty Little Thing brand deal.
Plates, like Instagram, works in a grid system only you can organize your photos into different albums - or should we say plates. These albums are displayed on your profile grid and you can choose whether you want them to be public or private or protected.
You can add as many photos as you want to each plate - although you can only add 10 at a time. Users can choose to subscribe to specific plates of interest and can also follow the curators but you don’t have to. If you just like one particular album on a creator's page, you can opt to just see content when it’s added to that plate rather than everything they post.
I’ve only been using Plates for a few hours but I am already liking how organized it is and how easy it is to discover other creatives. It’s not the best-looking app if I’m being honest and it does feel a bit clunky but that’s something that could easily change.
With Instagram still so engraved in my mind and life, it’s hard to not compare every other photo app that exists or will exist to it. Despite how much I don’t like making reels or how much Instagram prefers them to photography content, Insta’s design does have the upper hand. It’s great to be able to organize photos into albums but it makes your home page look a little messy.
One feature I do really like is that you can view what plates other people have joined. So if for example, you find a really inspiring creative whose work you love, you can see if they’ve subscribed to any plates that might interest and inspire you too.
It’s still early days for Plates but I could see a lot of photographers jumping ship and making the move to it, especially if Instagram continues to prioritize video content over photos. Not every photographer wants to spend hours making reels just to get yourself more noticed but with Plates, there’s none of that. I’m not deleting my Instagram account just yet, but I will be using both platforms.
Social media savvy? Want to improve your content creation? Check out the best cameras for instagram and the best camera for TikTok, as well as the best cameras for vlogging.
