Instagram Thursday that it would roll back some of the recent changes it had implemented after facing backlash from users, as well as members of the famous Kardashian family.
In recent days, Instagram has come under fire from users who are frustrated with new changes that aim to turn the popular photo- into a clone TikTok. Some users have complained that Instagram is now showing far more recommended content from accounts they don't follow than posts from their friends. Instagram is also testing full-screen posts, similar to how posts appear on TikTok.
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“Based on our findings and community feedback, we are pausing test screen on Instagram so we can explore other options and are temporarily reducing the number of suggestions you see in your feed to improve the quality of your experience,” said a spokesperson for Meta , Instagram’s parent company.
"We recognize that changes to the app are an adjustment, and while we believe Instagram should evolve as the world changes, we want to take the time to make sure we're doing it right," the company added.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosserifirst announced the rollout of the new changes in an interview with tech news outlet Platformer.
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“I’m glad we took a risk — if we don’t fail every now and then, we’re not thinking big enough or bold enough,” Mosseri said. “But we definitely need to take a big step back and regroup. When we learn what we need to, then we come back with some new idea. So we’ll figure this out.”
It is worth noting that Instagram's decision to withdraw the changes may be largely due to the criticism recently leveled at it by famous sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner. The two women with millions of followerspublicly criticized Instagram, asking it to stop copying TikTok. "Do Instagram again, Instagram," wrote the two reality stars. Why are their comments considered so important? Of course, because the Kardashian-Jenner family has shown in the past how influential they are. In 2018, Jenner tweeted that she no longer used Snapchat after the app's redesign. This simple post caused the parent company, Snap, to drop by 8% in one day. Therefore, one can understand why the Kardashian-Jenners' opinion is so important even for huge companies like Instagram. However, we do not know if this was the main reason for withdrawing the changes. But it certainly played a role in combination with the negative comments of other users.
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Like other social media platforms, Instagram has increasingly attempted to copy features from TikTok, one of its biggest competitors. In Instagram's case, however, that meant moving from a focus on photography to a focus on video. In 2020, Instagram launched Reels, a short-form video feature similar to TikTok.
However, the app says it will continue to focus on photos. “We will continue to support photos, it’s part of our heritage,” Mosseri said in a video shared on Instagram on Tuesday.
Source: edition.cnn.com
