It looks like the Kardashians may have had a hand in Instagram’s decision to scale back on previous plans to focus strictly on videos, CNBC reports.
However, the celebrity family was not the only ones who were outspoken about the social media network’s recent uptick in videos. Tons of users flocked to the Internet to express their grievances. Many people, including the Kardashians, accused them of copying their competitor, TikTok, in terms of videos.
I have the full screen test, I don’t like it. I miss being able to scroll, not going one by one.
I desperately want the option for a chronological feed; I follow over 2k accounts and only see posts from the same 100 or so.
Videos are fine, but I use IG for IG, not Tiktok.— Quinoa 🍚 (@Quinoanoir) July 26, 2022
In fact, it seems like all it took was for Kylie Jenner to co-sign a Change.org petition calling to “Make Instagram Instagram Again,” before the platform’s chief shared some comments of his own.
On Tuesday, Adam Mosseri responded to the chatter, doubling down on the company’s new strategy.
“We could just not enable videos,” he said in a video. “We could not try to make out video offering as good as our photo offering, or as good as the competition’s video offering. But I think that would be a mistake.”
At the end, he opened the floor for feedback, but seemingly expressed that Instagram would be moving forward with the video concept regardless of how people felt.
“Let me know what you think in the comments below,” Mosseri continued. “If you love it, great. If you hate it, great.”
You don’t even need to pay for research, just look at the comments – WE HATE IT 😭😭😭
— s • (@stefanbertin) July 26, 2022
Now, Mosseri has had a change of heart regarding Instagram’s video-focused changes.
“I’m glad we took a risk — if we’re not failing every once in a while, we’re not thinking big enough or bold enough,” he shared. “But we definitely need to take a big step back and regroup.”
While they are taking some time to rethink the strategy, Mosseri is still clear on the Meta company’s decision to increase videos across the platform.
For now, though, Instagram users will see a temporary increase in the number of algorithmically recommended videos seen by people on the app.