Kristina Šušnjara (Vrh komunikacije): Users Rightly Raised a Ruckus Against Changes on Instagram

And while the world trembles from inflation, shortages, sanctions, a new wave of the pandemic, and war, users of the social platform Instagram are fighting a completely different battle. They have, in fact, risen up and demanded the return of Instagram as it once was, signing a petition and sharing a post requesting that Instagram stop being TikTok so they can once again see sweet photos of their friends. This rebellion came after Instagram’s bosses, namely Meta, changed the way they serve content so that users see posts suggested by the algorithm in their feed, along with a bunch of videos and reels from profiles they do not even follow. Due to fear of further retaliation, Instagram’s bosses have listened to users and announced that they will soften some changes and retract others, and that the whole matter is still in the testing phase.

We spoke with communication expert from the agency Vrh komunikacije, Kristina Šušnjara, about the viral movement ‘Make Instagram Instagram Again‘ and the motives behind the recent changes on the platform.

What are the biggest problems for users who want Instagram to be as it once was?

– Instagram started as a platform for sharing photos, and today the focus is shifting from photos to video, which is to be expected. However, more than 200,000 dissatisfied users have signed the online petition ‘Make Instagram Instagram again’, and it is clear that they have succeeded because Instagram decided to retract part of the new update. The main reason for the changes they wanted to introduce is Instagram’s fight against competitor TikTok, which has surpassed one billion users since last September and has grown twice as fast as Instagram last year. Users resent this move because they believe it will result in two identical platforms, which is quite tedious and not innovative at all. According to the new update, the photos of our friends and the people we follow were supposed to be pushed to the bottom, so they may never appear again unless we search for them ourselves. This is quite negative for an app that claims to be exclusively community-focused.

Also, one of the problems is certainly the need for greater effort in content creation, both for those who earn through Instagram and for us ‘ordinary’ users. The amount of time required to create videos, no matter how simple it may seem, requires much more time and ideas, and along with that comes design, which will certainly remain an important aspect of the Instagram platform.

Instagram’s head, Adam Mosseri, explained that they are still testing new features and that these recommended posts help creators improve their reach.

– Adam Mosseri describes it as seeing more “recommendations” in our feed, or “content that we think we might like, but that we may not have heard of yet.” Users just want to keep up with their friends and acquaintances, as Instagram was originally intended to be, and now we will be served most of the content from people we do not even follow. It is now clear that they made a mistake. However, we have already witnessed changes on social media that users eventually adapted to, so it will certainly be interesting to see what the outcome will be. Nevertheless, I believe that the opposition is justified.

How much did the fact that famous influencers, like the Kardashian sisters, requested the return of Instagram as it once was, play into the decision to retract the changes?

– Kylie Jenner, with her 360 million followers, is the second most followed person on Instagram, and her clear disagreement with the changes on Instagram could have a certain effect. After a similar unpopular update from Snapchat in 2018, she tweeted that she would no longer use the app, and as a result of that tweet, Snapchat lost $1.3 billion in company value in just one week. Many of the Kardashian-Jenner sisters’ businesses have great success on Instagram, but even with the algorithm update, I believe their products and brands will survive these changes. However, it is clear that they are the voices of the community and can significantly influence changes.

What do these changes mean for brands?

– Since the testing will remain in the testing phase for now, if it eventually transitions to a permanent phase, I think that large brands will easily adapt because they certainly have teams of content creators who will skillfully adjust to the new situation, as always. James Charles, a beauty YouTuber with 23 million Instagram followers, also commented on Instagram, stating that video content is growing because they are FORCED to post it. This once again confirms that the video format is in focus, but it also creates pressure on content creators.

What can be concerning is how small businesses will cope with the new update, if it ever comes, because for them, the algorithm change can be a significant blow, especially financially if they collaborate with external agencies and content creators. Another way is for them to learn how to create and edit video content themselves, but the question is whether they will have time for that.

What are your predictions – will Instagram become the new TikTok, and should it?

– Instagram consistently updates the app to keep pace with trends and ensure that competitors do not overtake them. Thus, in 2013, they first introduced videos in the app while competing with Vine, and in 2016, they launched Stories after the success of Snapchat Stories.

For now, Instagram is in the experimentation phase with a range of different changes in the app, and I hope they will listen to their followers because a situation where they want to overtake the competition can easily lead to a loss of users. The greatest damage that the change would bring would not be that Instagram becomes a copy of TikTok, but that with the new update, the posts of our friends and the people we follow will not be in the foreground. Also, many are already complaining about the volume of video content.

Instagram Reels currently works quite well. The algorithm recognizes quality video content and rewards it with a large reach. I believe that the current combination of Reels and photos on the profile combines the classic and new Instagram and that they should continue in that direction.