Instagram's New Feature Of Facebook-Like Newsfeeds Made Users Furious
Photosharing app Instagram has just announced a major algorithmic transition to Facebook-like newsfeed update of its photo's time stamps instead of organizing posts based on chronological order.
In the new order of things, posts shall be organized by combining elements of 'timeliness', poster-user relationship, and the 'likelihood' the user will find a certain post interesting or relevant.
"To improve the experience, feeds will soon be ordered to show the moments we believe people will care about the most-and that includes content shared from businesses. The order of photos and videos in feeds will be based on the likelihood people will be interested in the content, their relationship with the person or business posting and the timeliness of the post," the Instagram for Business blog announcement said.
With the news comes a barrage of angry reactions from a number of Instagram diehard fans. Many of them vented their rage through Twitter with the hashtag #RIPInstagram.
"Why do social networks think they can choose what I want to see? Please stop. #RIPInstagram and your glorious chronological feed," a tweet from an angry Instagram user named Kyah Skavinski as quoted by the Mirror.
However, Instagram defended its decision by citing statistics to justify the enormous change. As reported by Teen Vogue, users of the image sharing platform miss 70% of their feeds simply because of the enormous amount of content that they need to catch up with. With a personalized content news feed, people wouldn't have to miss their friends' big moments or an 'upcoming flash sale or new product'.
Despite some obvious benefits the update will bring, an article from Endgadget shared a cautionary remark of Instagram's 'big gamble'. While it is great to make the platform more relevant to users, some of its diehard fans might be annoyed especially that Instagram does not offer opt out to users who are not happy with the change. Instead of rushing, the app should take careful steps to avoid alienating a segment of its large user base.
