Instagram reverses course on its controversial updates

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Well, that didn’t last long. Instagram seems to be back peddling some of the changes it announced earlier in the week, reports Platformer.

“But we definitely need to take a big step back and regroup,” Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri said in an interview with Platformer. “We’ve learned a lot, then we come back with some sort of new idea or iteration. So we’re going to work through that.”

On Monday, July 25, 2022, Instagrammers led by the Kardashians called on Instagram to stop copying TikTok and make Instagram Instagram again.

Kylie Jenner, who has 360 million followers, shared a user’s post on her story. Her Sister, Kim Kardashian, also shared it with her 320 million followers.

The post read, “Make Instagram Instagram again.” It continued, “Stop trying to be TikTok I just want to see cute photos of my friends. Sincerely, everyone.”

Within hours, the post went viral, garnering millions of likes and nearly 150,000 Change.org signatures in the petition calling for Instagram to remain true to the gram.

Instagram responds to users’ concerns

Some of the complaints included Instagram’s push for more Reels on feeds, lowering engagements on videos as a result, the automatic conversion of videos shorter than 15 minutes into Reels, and downranking of videos reposted from TikTok, and more recommended posts.

In a swift reaction on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri took to Twitter to address user concerns.

He admitted that users are frustrated with the new full-screen feed design, and that usage data wasn’t exactly great.

He also clarified that the full-screen feed is a test feature but reassured that he and his team would go back to the drawing board to chart a way forward.

In the video, he said, “I’m hearing a lot of concerns right now about photos and how we’re shifting to video.”

https://twitter.com/mosseri/status/1551890839584088065

He adds, “Now, I want to be clear, we’re gonna continue to support photos. It’s part of our heritage…”

He continued, ” that said, I need to be honest: I do believe that more and more of Instagram is going to become video over time. We see this even if we do nothing… So we’re gonna have to lean into that shift.”

Users respond to Instagram

Many users, including people like Chrissy Teigen, are accusing Adam of not listening enough to people and shoving unwanted features down their throats.

She tweeted, “we don’t wanna make videos Adam lol.” Adam responded by saying he’s trying to find a middle ground for photo and video lovers to enjoy Instagram.

The comment section is awash, with users mostly criticizing Instagram for not paying attention to users’ feedback.

Will Instagram keep being Instagram and stop copying TikTok?

Time will tell, however, from Adam’s body language, it does appear as though Instagram is focused on integrating more video features.

How users will respond to these changes remains to be seen. But we do know that things don’t look too good for Meta at the moment.

Also, the last time Kylie criticized Snapchat for similar reasons in 2018, the company’s stock lost about $1.3 billion.

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