Faced with the anger of its users, Instagram will reverse certain changes made to its application, which increasingly copies TikTok. A decision that comes as the Meta group sees its turnover drop for the first time.
Instagram is constantly adding new functions that are gradually bringing its application closer to its competitor TikTok – which is enjoying insolent success with nearly a billion users worldwide – by transforming all videos into Reels, for example. The latest find was a new interface in the testing phase that displays photos and videos in full screen, like the Chinese application. A novelty that did not delight users at all, quite the contrary. A user has published a message where she regrets the old Instagram, the one that highlighted the sharing of photos between users – and not sponsored content and videos of complete strangers. “Make Instagram become Instagram again”she says in essence. “Stop trying to be TikTok : I just want to see cute pictures of my friends.”
As a reminder, TikTok does not highlight user contacts since its success is due to its algorithm which chooses videos from creators according to people’s tastes. The publication was shared in story by Kylie Jenner and her sister Kim Kardashian, respectively followed by 361 and 326 million subscribers. A petition was even launched by Tati Bruening on Change.org to bring back the timeline of posts, now garnering over 230,000 signatures. Faced with the growing frustration of its users, Instagram had to backtrack.
Instagram temporarily suspends its transformation
Instagram app boss Adam Mosseri told Platform that the social network was going to pause testing and feature changes. The new interface will disappear in one to two weeks. The platform will also reduce the number of content recommended to users by its algorithm. “I’m glad we took a risk – if we don’t fail once in a while, we’re not being bold enough“said Adam Mosseri.”We need to take a step back […] and come back with a new formula.“He recognized that”for new flow designs, people get frustrated and the usage data isn’t great. So here, I think we have to take a big step back, regroup and determine how we want to move forward.“
Unfortunately, this mea culpa should not last. At the end of January, the Meta group – which also owns Facebook – recognized that certain competing platforms were hindering its growth, especially among young audiences. “People have a lot of choices about how they want to spend their time. And apps like TikTok are growing really fast.“, had underlined Mark Zuckerberg, the founder and boss of Meta. This did not prevent him from confirming again this Wednesday, July 27, as reported Le Figaro, a new direction for Instagram and Facebook, especially when it comes to algorithm recommendations. In the last quarter, the time people spent watching Reels increased by 30%, suggesting that user demand for short videos – including those recommended by algorithms – is real and should be encouraged by the group. Currently, about 15% of the content seen by Facebook and Instagram users comes from recommendations from the algorithm, a figure that Meta aims to double by the end of the year. The question is how to integrate these videos into an application where friends, family, celebrities, creators and other e-commerce projects are fighting a daily war for the best visibility.
Meta is going through a historic crisis
On Wednesday, July 27, Meta also announced its first-ever quarterly revenue drop. Indeed, the Menlo Park firm generated a turnover of 28.8 billion dollars, a decrease of 1% compared to that of the previous year. A first in its history! “We are going to have to do more with fewer resources“, declared Mark Zuckerberg. Falling advertising revenues, competition, controversies in series… The reasons are not lacking. This is why Facebook, like Instagram, is also seeking to modify its interface, by including a “discovery engine ” which will highlight the famous “creators” so dear to the group. This interface will use the principle of the For you present at TikTok – which is definitely becoming a real obsession. This is good news for influencers, who will be able to gain followers more easily. And too bad for the others…
Let’s hope that Instagram, like Facebook, will find truly original ideas to stand out in this war of social networks… It would be a shame to see a standardization, when it is their diversity and their identity that make them strong. Users do not need multiple identical applications.