Everyone and their mother have been complaining about the latest changes to Instagram such as recommended posts from users they don’t follow appearing their feed and a focus on Reels.
Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri has responded by saying that the platform will slowly be reverting the changes over the next one to two weeks.
“People are frustrated and the usage data isn’t great. So I think that we need to take a big step back, regroup, and figure out how we want to move forward” said Mosseri in an interview with Platformer.
Users have also been confused as to why their feed is completely different to other users. This is because the new features were only rolled out to some Instagram users as a test such as a full-screen feed that prioritised short-form videos on Reels.
Ina video on Twitter, Mosseri stated that while photos are a part of Instagram’s heritage, he believes that the platform is on its way to becoming mostly video based.
Instagram backlash
For many users, the latest update was quite frankly no steps forward but many steps back.
“I hate the recommended stuff. I only want to see posts that I follow. If I want to explore other pages, I’ll go to the EXPLORE PAGE.” said a user
“Instagram is ruining themselves. I keep getting ads of stuff I’ve googled and now my friend’s stuff doesn’t even come up on my feed.” said another user.
Even celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, who quit the platform before, and the most followed woman on the gram, Kylie Jenner posted stories saying “Make Instagram Great Again”.
Exploring other options
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, a spokesperson from Meta said that they were aware of the negative feedback and would be exploring other options.
“Based on our findings and community feedback, we’re pausing the full-screen test on Instagram so we can explore other options, and we’re temporarily decreasing the number of recommendations you see in your feed so we can improve the quality of your experience,”
Mosseri emphasies the importance of being a risktaker and discusses how failure is necessary for growth.
“I’m glad we took a risk — if we’re not failing every once in a while, we’re not thinking big enough or bold enough, but we definitely need to take a big step back and regroup.”
In the past, people will remember that Snapchat were the first to have stories and then Facebook copied it. Now users are saying that Instagram is trying to be like TikTok.
New features: “I’ll be back”
Mosseri didn’t specify how much Instagram would reduce the number of recommended posts and accounts but it is temporary. They’re going to work out how they can improve the content users see in their feed so that they enjoy it and is confident that they will bring the new features back in some form later.