Why Everyone Hates Instagram's New Feed
It's the end of the social networking world as we know it.
Recently Instagram has changed what appears in its main feed. Instead of an algorithmically-determined order of photos from people you follow, it offers an algorithmically-determined mix of photos and videos from not only people you follow but also from people it thinks you might be interested in. In Instagram's words back in March it is adding "recommendations to your feed based on your interests." Change always brings opposition and sometimes it brings opposition from trend-setting celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian. When Kylie Jenner tweeted in 2018 that she didn't use Snapchat anymore, it was the modern equivalent of Frank Sinatra saying 'I think it's going to rain" in a club. A lot of people left. And Snap's stock market value dropped more than $1 billion.
The two celebs posted the following text to Instagram's Stories Monday, "Make Instagram Instagram again (stop trying to be TikTok. I just want to see cute photos of my friends). Sincerely, everyone. X." Jenner has 360 million followers on Instagram, while Kardashian has 326 million. The posts have more than 1.6 million likes and resulted in nearly 140,000 signatures on a petition started by fashion photographer Tati Bruening.
Tuesday Instagram head Adam Mosseri, wearing a lovely saffron shirt and gold pendant necklace, shared a video on Twitter. He clarified that a full-screen version of the Instagram feed is a test that only some people see and that, in his words, "it’s not yet good." He also said they will continue to support photos. BUT added, "I do believe more and more of Instagram will become video over time." That's because it's what people are posting and viewing. He also reminded folks that if they don't like recommendations, that you can X them out , snooze recommendations for a month or go to the "following" feed. I think he meant favorites feed?
This Instagram issue along with Facebook's redesign to include more algorithmically-selected content, not to mention the rise of TikTok and the troubled sale of Twitter, has led Axios's Scott Rosenberg to declare that this is "the end of the social networking era, which began with the rise of Friendster in 2003."
Rosenberg believes that "discovery engines" like TikTok will compete with streaming services like Netflix for attention on one end, and messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp will be the province of small group and personal communications. That would leave the middle, a space once dominated by forums and message boards, open for rising stars like Discord.