Instagram’s Focus Shift: Emphasizing DMs, Reels, and Recommendations While Allowing Users to Customize Content Algorithm
Instagram’s user base has expanded to 3 billion monthly active users, as announced by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, and Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram. This significant achievement marks a milestone for the platform, which reached 1 billion users in 2018.
Mosseri revealed in an Instagram video that the majority of recent growth on the social media platform can be attributed to direct messages (DMs), Reels, and recommendations. In response, the platform intends to concentrate further on these products over the next few months, with a focus on redesigning the app around DMs, Reels, and personalized recommendations.
While the emphasis on short-form video and content recommendations from accounts users don’t follow has driven growth on Instagram, some users have expressed frustration with this shift, preferring to view photos or content from people they already know.
To address this issue, Instagram will soon introduce a feature that allows users to fine-tune the algorithm that recommends content on Reels. Users can toggle topics of interest, which may include college football, film photography, and chess. If, for example, one grows weary of college football reels featuring a struggling team, they can remove that topic from their algorithm.
In addition to this feature, Instagram plans to modify the bottom navigation bar of the app by replacing the button for uploading content with a more direct link to DMs.
As Meta navigates ongoing legal challenges regarding the alleged anticompetitive nature of its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, internal emails have shed light on tensions between Facebook and Instagram. While Instagram has gained cultural relevance that benefits Meta significantly, concerns have been expressed by Zuckerberg about Instagram’s rise potentially contributing to Facebook’s decline in popularity, particularly among teenagers. To counteract this trend, Meta has spent the past few years brainstorming strategies to make Facebook appealing to a younger demographic once more.
