After about a decade and nearly 5,000 posts on the platform (yikes!), maybe I’ve learned a couple of things about Instagram. Or maybe I haven’t and that’s why I’m not Insta-famous (yet?). Whatever the case might be, I’ve observed a number of changes over the years. And one of these has to do with how people (myself included) choose to approach Instagram captions. It seems like Instagram captions have gone through (at least) three phases or styles. Let me show you what I mean.

Phase 1: It’s a Literal Caption

Now, I can only speak from my own personal experience with my own Instagram account. For the most part, I feel like my experience with Instagram generally aligns with broader themes. Of course, there are individual differences. But, what I found is that, at least in the earlier days, most Instagram captions were short. Very short.

They may not have been as descriptive as image alt text, necessarily. Instead, they might be similar to the captions you see under photographs in a newspaper article, maybe. Or, in this particular example, three simple hashtags that kind of say everything they need to say.

During this stage of Instagram’s journey, most of us still viewed the platform as a “square photos first” kind of place. The accompanying captions, for the most part, weren’t much more than an afterthought. Maybe they provide context, if needed, or maybe they’re purposely cryptic.

Phase 2: Instagram Captions as Micro Blogs

After at least a few years of very short Instagram captions, they started growing. And growing. And they grew to the point where the captions that go with Instagram posts are almost like short blog posts. I’d argue that could be part of the reason why blogging is less popular now than it was several years ago. People are choosing to tell their stories in different ways, including through Instagram captions.

Here’s a somewhat recent example from our trip to Parksville last winter. The photo itself is fine, but the caption beneath it tells a much bigger story that goes well beyond the visual that you see. As someone who’s more of a writer than a photographer, I gravitate more toward this style. (Though I do enjoy making nice visuals too, of course.)

Similarly, I used to review restaurants regularly here on Beyond the Rhetoric as full-blown blog posts. So far this year, I’ve highlighted Jade Palace and Tokyo John Sushi. But, again, if you look at my Instagram, you’ll see that I talk about my foodie adventures much more frequently there. They’re like mini blog post reviews. Take my recent posts on Suren and Duffin’s Donuts, for example. I’ll usually list out the items we got, how much they cost, a brief description, and my overall impression.

To the best of my knowledge, the maximum Instagram caption limit is 2,200 characters. By comparison, a standard 750-word blog post is about twice that, give or take.

Phase 3: Do People Even Read Captions?

Even though Instagram allows for up to 2,200 characters in the caption, you might not want to use all those characters every time. Indeed, some people say that you should keep your Instagram captions to under 125 characters. Anything longer than that gets truncated in the feed. And I feel like this is even more relevant with Instagram Reels, as I imagine very few people tap to expand the caption on those unless they’re highly motivated.

What this means is that you want to encapsulate as much as you can in the first line. Take this example from our visit to the local farmers market.

I don’t know if there are any metrics or analyses out there about how many people actually read Instagram captions. It’s probably safe to say that number is quite low, so maybe captions aren’t about being micro-blogs anymore… though they can provide context for relevance and user interest. Recommendations around hashtags on Instagram keep changing too.

The Future of Instagram Captions

I obviously don’t have some sort of crystal ball, and I don’t claim to have “discovered the secrets of finding success on Instagram” or anything like that. These are just some casual observations from my 10 or so years on the platform. If I were to venture a guess — and we know how Zuck and his Meta team like to keep changing things on us — I’d expect Instagrammers to approach the platform the same way they might approach YouTube or blogging.

Some people might continue with the longer Instagram captions to lean more into the storytelling. Others may focus more on Reels and let their videos do most of the talking. And then there’ll be bumbling ‘grammers like me who end up doing a little bit of both. What has been your approach to Instagram captions lately? Do yours tend to be longer or shorter?