Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri shared a video on Twitter Tuesday explains recent changes to the social media platform, a day after celebrities liked Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian criticize the app for “trying to be TikTok.”
Mark ZuckerbergCEO of Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, has been pushing for short videos, a market that TikTok dominates on mobile devices. Many users have reacted poorly to the change, and a post calling on the company to “reinvent Instagram for Instagram”, implying that they should focus more on the photos their friends post, have collected. over 1.6 million likes and resulted in nearly 140,000 petition signatures.
In the video, Mosseri says he knows a lot has changed for Instagram. He said the app will continue to support photos, but he believes it will focus more on video over time as it is something people are liking, sharing and using on the platform.
He added that if users are seeing the new full-screen version of their feed, it’s just an experiment.
“It’s still not good,” he said, noting that the experience would have to be improved if it were to be introduced to the rest of the Instagram community.
Mosseri says he’s also heard a lot about the suggestions that posts appear in users’ feeds from accounts they don’t follow. The recommendations are intended to help users discover new content, he said, and they work as one of the “most effective and important” ways to help creators reach more people. Mosseri says if people aren’t interested in these posts, they can close them or snooze all suggestions for up to a month.
Mosseri completed the video by asking for feedback. Viewers couldn’t hold back.
“[S]top makes everything spin,” one user wrote. You’re getting everyone from journalists, content creators, CEOs, and celebrities to agreeing. Now it’s an app for everything you’re promoting, not for my friends and who I think are awesome. “
“When did Instagram accept that not all creators are video creators? Graphic designers, photographers and other visual artists helped build IG and build upon it to share. their work,” wrote another user. “And now you’re screwing them up to be a 15-second video streaming site that ppl can’t control.”
Meta is set to report earnings tomorrow and analysts say they expect a quarterly revenue decline from its first year.
