I love Instagram. Despite what this blog may imply, it remains my platform of choice — for creating and consuming content. That’s why I feel so passionate about the company’s recent missteps.
In July Instagram walked back its plan to adopt a TikTok-style feed, which featured full-screen photos and videos. The test rollout was met with a mostly negative response — including from macro influencer Kylie Jenner, which may have been the main reason Instagram decided to nix the change.
Why does Instagram keep introducing new features which fall flat? It’s grappling with an identity crisis. Meta and its properties, Facebook and Instagram, have a history of either copying popular features of other platforms or buying entire apps. This most recent maneuver is an attempt to prioritize video, influenced by TikTok’s success. But Instagram is missing something: innovation.
Things move at the speed of light on social media, and it can certainly be hard to keep up. But rather than ask, “Should we change?,” platforms like Instagram would be better served considering how they might change — doing a better job at leveraging tools, messaging and the algorithm is a great place to start.
On TikTok, anyone with a phone can go viral, with no need for professional equipment. The most popular YouTube channels are produced like they’re on cable. Instagram might find success somewhere in the middle. Users will come for updates from friends but stay for “premium” content from exciting creators.
Instagram’s lack of editing tools is baffling. Many creators edit outside the app and only use Instagram to publish, but this is a missed opportunity for Instagram to position itself as a one-stop shop. Photographers, videographers, artists and other creatives on Instagram deserve to have access to tools, be able to easily express themselves and find an audience for their content.
Algorithms are complicated, and people’s feeds change daily. Rather than pushing memes and viral posts on the “Explore” tab, Instagram would do better to prioritize high-quality content featuring a variety of topics, whether it’s fashion, cars, science or food.
In Instagram’s own content and advertising, it can present itself as a place for creatives. A shift in messaging won’t immediately change the content, but it may convince creators to use the app more and encourage them to carve out their own little corners of the internet.
The last thing we want to see is Instagram face the same fate as Facebook and give a reason to Gen Z to flee the app. If Instagram wants to be the place to “discover what’s next,” it can’t keep being the place where we re-discover what we’ve already seen on TikTok.
