The latest Instagram update has resulted in mass complaints to the social media giant. Users claim that the popular social media platform is trying too much to be TikTok, and that the new changes are “terrible”.
To date over 200,000 people have signed a petition online to ask Instagram to revert the changes. A viral post by Insta user @illumitati has seen over 2 million likes, with Social Media Queen, Kim Kardashian, even sharing the message.
TikTok began in 2016 and was instantly a hit with younger social media fans. TikTok is a video sharing app, and soon became one of the world’s most used social media applications. It saw a huge growth during the COVID-19 Pandemic due to lockdowns, stay at home warnings and school closures.
It appears that Instagram are feeling the pressure. Release of the new updated Insta has been ongoing since May, however it seems that over the past few weeks, it has been rolled out to a much wider audience, hence the increase in complaints. The new updates are huge, with the app seemingly moving away from its photography based post roots and heading largely towards video content. In 2020 Instagram launched Reels, an exciting way to create and discover short, entertaining videos. The new update takes this even further.
Instagram update – what’s changed?
- The platform has switched to “Dark Mode” utilising a black interface.
- Posts are now full screen sized at the 16:9 aspect. This will help feed video content through onto the Instagram timeline at the size it should be viewed.
- Videos are now uploaded as reels
- Stories are harder to access from the main timeline.
- New algorithms designed to connect users to their audience.
- Video content taking priority over image based posts.
So, what will Instagram do? Will it stick with the latest changes? Or will it cave, listen to its users, and revert back to its original and much loved format?
