The popular social media service is reconsidering its pivot to a TikTok-style video feed after it was highly unpopular with its fan base.
Over the past few weeks, a version of the app that opened into a feed of full-screen photos and videos has been being tested by the company. The new feed pushes seemingly random posts from people who have actually chosen to follow them.
Mosseri said that the social media platform will take a step back and regroup. Mosseri said in an interview that he was glad they took a risk because they weren't thinking big enough.
Mosseri says that this isn't a permanent retreat and that the company plans to "work through" the changes and come back with a new idea or iteration. The test version of the app is being phased out and the number of recommended posts is being reduced. The goal is to fine- tune its personalization and try again with a feed that will delight users.
There should be a high bar when you discover a new field that you haven't followed before. Mosseri toldNewton that he should be happy to see it.
The changes resulted in a huge backlash from fans who were unhappy with what the service was becoming. Major celebrities like KimKardashian have weighed in on the matter, saying that parent company Meta should make Instagram again, because it's rife with frustrated users that quickly accumulate tens of thousands of likes and retweeteds.
If Kylie Jenner speaks it, your platform is in trouble. Never forget snap losing over $1 billion when she said she didn’t open Snapchat anymore (in 2018) bc of the redesign pic.twitter.com/jkmAuWoFen
— Ashley Carman (@ashleyrcarman) July 25, 2022
The changes were undone because of the public uproar. The new design was unpopular according to the company's own analytic data. The shift from photos to videos on social media may have been too rapid. Mosseri said that the high-profile discontent was supported by the internal data of the social network. The design changes appear to be the focus of the most intense criticism.
The new Instagram update really understood what I was looking for:– none of my friends’ content– reposted TikToks from meme accounts I do not follow– 100x more ads
– everything played at full volume against my will
— Meg Watson (@msmegwatson) July 14, 2022
Mosseri said that people are frustrated by the new feed designs. We need to take a step back, regroup, and figure out how we want to move forward.
It seems clear that the pivot to video isn't going away. The time people spent watching Reels grew by 30% in the last quarter, according to Mark Zuckerberg. Meta will continue to work on giving short-form video a prominent place on both Facebook andInstagram. Mosseri and his team will have to figure out how to fit it into the app in a way that doesn't detract from the experience of the photo sharing service.
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