Following the news a new hashtag was trending: #RIPInstagram, which was filled with users sharing their anger towards the change and while thousands of users were already sharing their thoughts online, Instagram user Sarah Heard made a decision to take it one step further with a Change.org petition calling for Instagram to stop the changes. Instagram has also declared that its users miss approximately 70 percent of what’s in their feed, like interesting photos, posts by their best friends and even Likes. The casual Instagram user is going to miss a lot, which could lead to account abandonment.
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Facebook FB +0.69% first applied an algorithm to its feed in 2009.Instagram’s move also follows Twitter which began testing a more-curated version of its timeline last month.
The difference here is that Instagram is implementing the change while the user base is still growing rapidly.
Like it or not, Facebook-style posting is exactly what Instagram users are getting – and whether they know it or not, it’s the best thing for everyone.
According to the petition, it seems that they believe that changing the way the feed is displayed will have a huge impact (in a bad way) on small businesses and artists. The spokesman said the company wants to make sure that it’s still showing you timely posts.
“This means you often don’t see the posts you might care about the most”. This would allow Instagram to increase the number of bidders on its ad inventory, as brands look to reclaim their engagement. The Facebook-owned company announced on Tuesday, March 15, that it’ll soon be transitioning to a new algorithm that will determine a user’s newsfeed in a nonchronological manner – meaning, one based on what people are interacting with most.
Facebook, which acquired Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, regularly tweaks the algorithmic ordering of its News Feed based on a variety of factors, including daily user ratings and survey responses. While FB doesn’t break out Instagram revenue, Instagram is certainly a driving force behind its continued revenue growth.
Average users just don’t have the time or thumb strength to scroll through their entire feeds.
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Despite some user misgivings, Instagram’s changes likely won’t reach the extent of Facebook’s in terms of targeted advertising, 360i’s VP of Social Marketing and Strategy, Orli LeWiter, told AdWeek.
