Instagram partially reverses controversial changes in feed
Instagram is going to partially reverse a number of changes to the app’s feed. Users complain about the lack of content from friends and the proliferation of videos from accounts they don’t follow. Also, photos and videos take up the entire screen.
The changes were made last week. Earlier this month, Instagram reported that users will see more photos and videos suggested by the algorithm. The content comes from various accounts, including accounts that the user does not follow. With the changes, Instagram appears to want to compete with video platform TikTok, which had crossed the 3.5 billion all-time download mark in the first quarter of 2021. according to Sensor Tower.
Since then, Instagram users have been complaining about loud videos in their timeline, which are displayed in full screen. The messages can be viewed one by one with swipes, just like with TikTok. In addition, it seems that content from friends and followed accounts is less visible in the user’s timeline. Photographer Tati Brueining started last Saturday a petition against the changes and wants “Instagram to become Instagram again.” The petition has now been signed more than 230,000 times and the Instagram post about the petition has more than two million likes.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri responded in an interview with Platformer on the criticism. In it he says that the changes are ‘a test’ and therefore not yet permanent. Still, the app is going to ‘take a big step back’. A number of changes will be removed and rolled back in the next two weeks, Mosseri promises. For example, the app will present fewer photos and videos. The CEO does say that the rollback of the changes is temporary.
“When you discover something in your feed that you haven’t followed before, you should be happy to see it. And I don’t think that’s happening right now. So I think we need to take a step back with the recommendations in the feed. We need to get better at ranking and recommending content. When we do that, we can grow again. I’m convinced of that,” said Mosseri.