The reaction was immediate. It took a post with more than 1.5 million likes and a petition against the Instagram changes to provoke a video response from her boss, Adam Mosseri, posted on Twitter on July 26. It must be said that two great stars of the network, Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian (360 and 326 million subscribers) have joined the protest movement against the platform, accused of becoming a copy of TikTok.
Adam Mosseri’s intervention returns to three particularly criticized points. First, the full screen format. According to the leader of the platform, it is a test that would only affect a small part of the users. This new screen would cause “a more pleasant and attractive experience”, specifies the boss before acknowledging that it is not ready for deployment.
“More and more to video”
It is then about one of the most controversial changes that Adam Mosseri spoke about: the development of videos. For the past few days, all videos under fifteen minutes are now Reels on Instagram. More and more videos are being presented, relegating photos to the background, while the platform was built around this medium.
According to the leader, this transition to video would happen even without the changes Instagram is making. “I honestly believe that Instagram will turn more and more towards video over time,” he says.
Criticized recommendations
The boss also sees this interest in the video format through the number of posts and interactions on the platform. “Looking at what people like, consume and watch on Instagram also shifts to more video.”
Finally, Adam Mosseri returned to a problem common to Facebook and Instagram, the two social networks owned by the Meta group: the recommendation algorithm. Despite the discovery of new creators, recommendations are particularly criticized by users because they break the tracking of posts by people a user actually follows.
“Helping Creators”
But the boss then clears up by reminding that the recommendations can be deleted and that it is possible to deactivate them for a period of one month. In addition, he defends recommendations for the visibility they bring to creators.
However, Adam Mosseri concludes his speech by acknowledging that the changes to the platform may have been brutal. “It’s a lot of changes at once,” he admits. But these developments seem essential for Instagram to reduce its lag compared to TikTok, the Chinese social network in which young Americans spend three times as much time.
Source: BFM TV
Emily Miller is a voice to be reckoned with in the world of opinion journalism. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a unique and thought-provoking perspective to current events and political issues, delivering insightful and engaging commentary.