Woman’s nostalgic point about how old social media has changed goes viral

A millennial reminiscing about the early days of social media has sparked a viral reaction.

Samantha Aiello (@notsamaiello) shared her thoughts on how Instagram has evolved over the years, highlighting how different the platform used to be. Her TikTok post garnered 756,500 views and 151,100 likes, striking a chord with nostalgic users.

“I just want everybody to know that when social media started we would celebrate 11 likes on Instagram, because that was the moment it stopped showing you the names of the people who liked the post, and started showing you the number of people who liked the post,” she said.

Instagram launched in 2010 and quickly became one of the most influential social media platforms, allowing users to share photos and videos with their followers. Initially, the app focused on simplicity, offering basic filters and a chronological feed.

Over the years, Instagram has undergone significant changes, especially since it was acquired by Meta (then known as Facebook) in 2012, including the introduction of Stories and Reels, algorithm-driven feeds, and influencer marketing.

“This is extremely important information,” Samantha captioned her post.

Her TikTok resonated with many users, who flooded the comments with their own memories of early Instagram.

“Also scrolling on the 3 or 4 new posts until you got to where you left off the first time. If no one posted you had nothing to see! Miss those days,” one user wrote.

“That section that showed you what EVERYONE was liking was so messy I need it back immediately,” said Erin.

“Do you remember when Instagram added the Story option? And everyone was annoyed bc it was clearly trying to be Snapchat lmaooo,” another user reminisced.

“Remember there was no such thing as doom scrolling? Used to get to the end and be caught up,” another user shared.

“I remember when people used to just post their drinks. Keychains. Holding hands. Just random stuff with awful filters and I loved it we had no idea what we were doing,” added another.

“I remember getting 100 likes for the first time and thinking I was a celebrity,” said another user.

“Back when you would hard post a meme or tag your friend in the comments because there was no dming,” shared one commenter.

Newsweek reached out to @notsamaiello for comment via email.

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