When I joined Facebook about ten years ago, it was a fun place to play games and message friends. It was so exciting and enticing that I wanted to be a part of it. So I lied about my age, got a Facebook account, and set out to manage a farm. But the craze only lasted a year, as Instagram came into the picture in 2012.
I’d say the photo-sharing application went mainstream when it launched on Android, pushing aside the exclusivity of iOS and grabbing the attention of pre-teens like me at the time. I’ve never really used Facebook to connect with people; there was something about the website design that felt archaic. Meanwhile, Instagram – the new hip boy on the block – was feeling different.
Instagram was fun and I posted maybe once or twice a week. Today, in 2022, the app has strayed far from its roots, enraging its fans and serving up more videos than the photos it should put on a pedestal. This is what I think of all this.
Why the backlash?
The main reason behind the sudden surge in fan anger has to do with the new direction Instagram is taking by testing a layout similar to TikTok’s – an app that is vastly different at its core. The layout in question is a full screen design with videos that are (supposedly) intended to enhance the experience. But if you ask me, the backlash with Instagram has grown slowly and steadily over the past few years as the app started to focus on more than just photos.
2016 saw the shift to an algorithmic feed, bringing up content that the app thought you wanted to see instead of your friend’s posts. So if your followers were a mix of brands, meme-sharing accounts, celebrities, and friends, you’d probably be more likely to see the first three than the last. Before this change, Instagram also introduced ads in the feed.
Stories was the next “feature” that detracted from the photos-only experience. It was a blatant copy of Snapchat, but was still optional, as it was separate from your feed and you could just ignore it. The growth of YouTube and the rise of TikTok with their respective video content resulted in Instagram with IGTV in 2018 and Reels in 2020.
With all these changes over the past two years, IGTV is no longer relevant, and Reels is more prominent than ever, making its way to the feed along with Discover. For those who don’t know, Discover shows messages from accounts you don’t follow. It’s basically Instagram’s way of pushing more content into the feed by highlighting what it thinks you’d like to see, hoping you’ll spend more time in the app.
Reels adds fuel to the fire and also starts recording videos on the platform if they are shorter than 90 seconds and the posting accounts are public. You can disable this “remix” feature if you want, but with this change, Instagram hopes to promote content for its platform and fight TikTok reposts.
Each of these changes has done one thing: erode the once-great photo-sharing experience. Add this to the content algorithm’s focus on videos, and it’s easy to see why users are upset. Even celebrities whose businesses revolve around Instagram are unhappy.
What does Instagram say about the changes?
Because of all this backlash, Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, posted a video explaining how the app’s focus will continue to shift to video over time. He said photos are still supported, but mostly just for heritage value.
In response to Adam Mosseri’s post, creator James Charles noted that he thinks the growth of videos is due to creators being forced to make them — which is pretty obvious. He went on to point out that engagement with photos has declined and videos have become the only growth opportunity for emerging creators and business owners.
From my perspective, I feel that Mosseri’s response makes things clear. While we came to Instagram for photos, they are no longer a priority. It seems the platform is adamant that its push for videos will help it compete with (and possibly beat) TikTok.
TikTok serves short videos to its users, while Instagram tries to be a super app that does it all. In a world where Instagram is no longer just a photo-sharing service, I see an opening and wonder what service will fill it next.
Will you continue to use Instagram despite all the upcoming changes, or are you considering switching to another platform like BeReal that is more about ‘in the moment’ content? Let us know in the comments below.