Instagram is getting a face-lift, but is it for the best?
Tech giants are no stranger to making changes to their apps to keep up with the rapidly growing world of social media, with Instagram the latest platform to introduce a significant change for 2022. Instagram has become a multi-billion-dollar industry, arguably leading the world of social media platforms, with many businesses and individuals crediting their success to the platform. On January 5th, the app launched its concept to introduce 3 different news feeds, and whilst our beloved home feed won’t be going anywhere, it will be a change that will impact how users interact with the app; so let us look a little deeper at what these changes are.
The tried and true home feed:
The first of the three feeds are our well-known home feed. The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, described this home feed as “the Instagram experience you know today”. This is where content is filtered to show what Instagram believes you are most interested in seeing. We are already familiar with the suggested content that is appearing in our home feeds today. So, we can expect more of these account and content suggestions.
Insta-faves:
The second feed Instagram will be introducing is a favourites tab. This will be a curated feed of Instagram accounts we interact with the most. So long are the days where we would have to scroll through a dozen pictures of influencers and celebrities before we would see an upload of our best friend’s engagement announcement. Now you will not miss the updates from people you what to interact with the most!
Hello 2012, we missed you:
Remember when our Instagram feeds were filled with heavily filtered pictures of food and appeared in chronological order? Well, they have decided to bring that back as the final new feed option. Look we can’t guarantee food pictures with the filter Lomo-Fi, but with this update, Instagram can promise you will see posts as they are uploaded. What a throwback!
This is a major face-lift to how we use Instagram today. And we believe it is for the better as app developers appear to be listening to users’ wants and needs. We can now choose how we want to spend our time on the app. It is potentially going to make the app more usable, and it is tailoring its experience for those who don’t want to spend hours on social media. For your everyday Joe, it may be beneficial, however, for businesses, it is raising some concerns. The current algorithms have already come under scrutiny by influencers and businesses who rely on organic engagement and reach. There is the potential that giving users more flexibility in their app experience will ultimately become an issue for influencers and businesses who rely heavily on this… however time will tell. Watch this space.