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 1. Design
 2. Graphic Design
 3. Branding
 4. Social Media




WHAT IS CARA, THE INSTAGRAM ALTERNATIVE THAT GAINED 600K USERS IN A WEEK?

News
By Joe Foley
published 9 June 2024

Everything you need to know about the AI-free social media platform for artists.

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 * 
 * 
 * 
 * 
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(Image credit: Cara Project)


Cara app launched in January 2023 but chances are you first heard about it in
the last week or so. That's because in around seven days, it went from having
40,000 users to 700,00 amid the controversy around Instagram using images to
train AI. Cara has a no-AI policy, which has led a lot of artists to see it as a
potential Instagram alternative, so it may be time to take a look.



Of course, this isn't the first time we've heard talk of an Instagram
alternative. And, perhaps with the exception of big hitter TikTok, which
Instagram has gone on to imitate in many ways, none has really caught on in a
big way. Could Cara be different? Below we round up who Car is for and how it
works to help you decide if it's worth exploring for yourself.


WHAT IS CARA APP?



The Explore tab on Cara app (Image credit: Cara Project)

Cara is a social media app that's being billed as an Instagram alternative
designed specifically for artists. Available for Android, iOS and as a website,
It's free to use, and it's become popular largely because of its ban on AI art.





For anyone who's used Instagram, Cara will feel immediately familiar as the UI
is very similar to that of Meta's platform. Users have a profile displaying a
brief bio and their follower and following numbers, they can posts images with
captions and hashtags; there's a 'Discover' tab where you can browse other
users' posts, and you can like and comment on posts just like on Instagram.

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However, unlike Instagram, Cara focuses specifically on art. There are several
differences that reflect this. The grid of highlighted posts on a users' profile
is called a 'Portfolio'. If you choose to add a post to your portfolio, you can
tag a field/medium, project type, category and the software used to create the
work. In that sense it feels a bit like a cross between Instagram and
ArtStation.




INSTAGRAM VS CARA: HOW DO THEY COMPARE?

The mechanics and UI of the two platforms are very similar, so Cara should be
easy for anyone familiar with Instagram to get the hang of. Cara has no
passwords: you log in via Google or Apple. And there are some differences in the
features and UI that may appeal to artists, such as the ability to change the
order of 'Portfolio' posts after they've been uploaded. 

Cara doesn't support video file formats at the moment, but unlike Instagram, it
does support GIFs. Animated GIFs can be displayed directly as covers in users'
feeds, which is something that appeals to animators.


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Policy and are aged 16 or over.

Users can also post text-only posts like on X or Threads in order to start
discussions. But most importantly for many of the artists signing up amid the
Instagram exodus, the platform aims to filter out images that were created using
generative AI. It also promises that it does not train AI models on its users'
content and does not grant permissions to 3rd party companies to train AI using
its users' data.


HOW DOES CARA BLOCK AI ART, AND CAN IT PREVENT SCRAPING?

Cara says it uses a third-party service to automate AI image detection and
moderation. It stresses that it does not have the manpower to manually review
every image. 

As for protecting users' images from scraping, Cara automatically puts 'NoAI'
tags on images when they are uploaded. These are intended to tell AI scrapers
not to scrape from Cara, but it's something that depends on good faith and
cannot be enforced.  As with any publicly accessible online content, unethical
actors will be able to scrape images if they want to. Cara recommends use of
Glaze, a free tool that allows artists to apply style cloaks to their work to
protect it from use in AI training. It's working on a Glaze integration directly
in the app to provide users with a easy way to protect their work before
posting.


CAN CARA REALLY COMPETE WITH INSTAGRAM?

Cara has grown quickly. It only launched in January 2023, and in the first week
of June it went from around 50k to over 700,000k users. However, that's still
tiny compared to Instagram's two billion. If it retains a specific focus on art,
it's unlikely to become a mainstream platform for popular use. 

It's also unlikely that Cara currently has the resources to maintain a platform
with a very large user base. The platform has been crashing due to the increase
in traffic, and Cara stresses that it has a very small team. It welcomes
donations, but without a more dependable form of monetisation or an angel
investor, it could face challenges just to cover the costs of keeping the
platform online.

As a relatively small community of artists, Cara currently has both pros and
cons. On the plus side, there's a positive community atmosphere. With no ads and
no noisy workout videos or Reels telling you how to make better Reels, artists
are more likely to find work that inspires them and other artists to connect
with. Some recent newcomers to the platform told me that they find it a
"peaceful" place compared to Instagram and enjoy browsing other users' work.

However, the limited audience makes Cara less appealing for those who want to
reach potential customers. With few non-artists on the platform, it's not likely
to be a place where you pick up sales at the moment. Cara does say that it
intends to expand to "other art communities and industries" in time, so this
could change in the longer term if the app survives.


WHO OWNS CARA APP?

Cara app was founded by the Singaporean photographer Jingna Zhang. It launched
in January 2023 and is currently run by a small team of volunteers.



Founder Jingna Zhang's profile on Cara (Image credit: Jingna Zhang via Cara)


DOES CARA ALLOW PHOTOGRAPHY?

Yes, it does. Although a glance at the Discover page will show that the majority
of content is illustration and animation, Cara does accept photography. Indeed,
you can upload a jpg of anything, including screenshots, as long as it doesn't
contain explicit content and wasn't made with AI. Zhang, is a photographer. She
has posted some of her work on her own profile and has said that she hopes to
see more photography on the platform.


IS CARA APP FREE?

Yes, Cara app is completely free to use, both via the apps for iOS or Android
and the browser-based site. Donations are welcome.


HOW MANY USERS DOES CARA HAVE?

According to Zhang's last update, Cara had reached 700,000 users on 6 June.
However, its user base has been growing so quickly in recent days that it is
very likely that it now has considerably more than that. Zhang reported that the
number of uses more than doubled in three days. It also reached the top 5 in the
Apple App Store for social networks in the US, passing Twitter, Discord, Reddit,
LinkedIn and Messenger for downloads in that period.


WHY ARE ARTISTS ARE LEAVING INSTAGRAM?

Instagram has been facing criticism for several reasons. A lot of people who use
the platform to promote their art are becoming disillusioned with the number of
adverts and changes in the Instagram algorithm that appear to give more presence
to video, resulting in them receiving little reach for posts of their work. Meta
has even been testing unskippable Instagram ads for some users.

However, the final straw  for many artists was confirmation that Meta is using
Instagram images to train its AI image generator. For most users, there's no way
to opt out. And even for those in the European Union, where legislation means
that Instagram has to allow an opt out, the platform isn't making that easy.

Some Instagram users are also getting tired of the AI-generated content on the
platform. Instagram has now introduced a 'Made with AI label'. Users can
voluntarily add this to their posts if they want to be honest, and Instagram
will automatically add it when it detects the use of AI. However, it's not clear
if it's yet working as it should. Some photographers have noted that it's tagged
their posts when they have done very minor retouching using AI, such a removing
a small imperfection, while some images that appear to be 100% AI seem to be
getting through.



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Joe Foley
Social Links Navigation

Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes
news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and
software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories.
A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the
London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana
Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors
who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality
sector. He also dances Argentine tango.


TOPICS
social media
News
Cara
Instagram
Digital Art
Art
Illustration
Animation
Photography
Graphic Design

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