After receiving criticism from its users, Instagram has finally stopped testing two TikTok-like features, namely a full-screen feed for photos and videos and recommended content from accounts that are not followed in the feed.
Speaking to journalist Casey Newton of The Verge, Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri said trials of TikTok-style full-screen displays would be discontinued in the next few weeks.
"For the new feed design, people are frustrated and the usage data is not good. So I think we need to take a step back, regroup, and figure out how we want to move forward," said Mosseri, as quoted from Engadget, Friday (29 /7/2022).
In addition to getting rid of the full-screen feed, Instagram will also reduce the amount of recommended content while improving and reworking its recommendation algorithm, but only temporarily.
"When you find something in a field that you didn't follow before, there should be high standards -- that should be good," Mosseri said.
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"You should be happy to see it. And I don't think that's happening enough now."
The withdrawal of the presence of these two controversial features was announced after users were busy criticizing the appearance of Instagram which was considered more like TikTok. Public figures like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian have even asked Instagram to stop imitating Tiktok.
In response to the Kardashian-Jenner criticism, Mosseri released a short video last Tuesday saying that Instagram will continue to support photo content but will focus more on video in the future.
In announcing Meta's financial reports for the quarter, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said about 15% of content on Facebook was already filled with content recommended by the algorithm, and the percentage was even higher on Instagram. He hopes this figure can double by the end of 2023.
Zuckerberg also announced that Meta grossed more than $1 billion from Reels ads. In addition, the amount of time users spend watching Reels has also increased by 30%.
But don't expect Instagram to stop recommending content from unfollowed accounts and cancel the full-screen feed. Mosseri said Instagram will continue to focus on recommended videos and content, but that it will be better presented later.