Make Instagram Instagram Again

Overview

Make Instagram Instagram Again is a summer 2022 online movement against Instagram's push for more video-based content and Reels in an apparent effort to compete with and emulate TikTok. For most of its lifespan, Instagram showed pictures and videos from accounts users followed in chronological order. However, recent tweaks to its algorithm meant users saw more videos from accounts they did not follow, much to the chagrin of some users. In July 2022, a Change.org petition to revive the older version of Instagram went viral on social media after it was promoted by Kylie Jenner.

Background

In 2022, Instagram made several tweaks to its algorithm that were interpreted as attempts to compete with TikTok. These included incentivizing creators to post original videos to its Reels feature^[1] and experimenting with full-screen Reels that were virtually indistinguishable from TikToks.^[2] Additionally, some users complained that they were being shown too much content from accounts they didn't follow and were not interested in.^[3]

On July 23rd, 2022, Instagram user illumitati, real name Tati Bruening, started a Change.org^[4] petition titled "Make Instagram Instagram Again." The key graphic of the petition (shown below) says, "Stop trying to be TikTok I just want to see cute photos of my friends." In the description for the petition, Bruening writes five demands: "Bring back chronological timelines," "Stop trying to be TikTok," "An algorithm that favors photos" and "A platform that listens to its creators." As of July 26th, the petition has over 150,000 signatures.

Additionally, Bruening promoted the petition on her Instagram page,^[5] amassing over 1.7 million likes in three days.

Developments

The spread of the petition was aided by Kylie Jenner, the second-most followed person on the platform, who reposted its key graphic to her Instagram Story on July 26th, 2022 (shown below).

Many took this as a sign that the petition may actually pressure Instagram to acknowledge its demands, citing a historical precedent. In 2018, Jenner made a comment about her dissatisfaction with Snapchat and its recent changes,^[6] reportedly causing the company to lose $1.3 billion in stock market value overnight. A Change.org petition against Snapchat's changes at the time gained over 1.2 million signatures. Snapchat was able to recover by refining its features in line with user feedback.^[3]

On July 26th, 2022, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri posted a video addressing the concerns.^[7] He noted the "full screen" feed feature is an experiment that has been sent to a small percentage of Instagram users and is not necessarily the future of Instagram. He also noted that he believes the "recommendations" feature, which is what puts content onto users' feeds from creators they don't follow or know, is a way to help smaller creators gain larger followings. He reminded viewers that they can x out of a recommendation, snooze all recommended content for 30 days, and limit the number of recommendations they receive by setting their feeds to "Following."

👋🏼 There’s a lot happening on Instagram right now.

I wanted to address a few things we’re working on to make Instagram a better experience.

Please let me know what you think 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/x1If5qrCyS

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) July 26, 2022

However, Mosseri also insisted that he believed video is growing more popular on Instagram and that the app would continue to consider how it could lean into the shift in order to promote more video content over photos. This proved contentious for some users. For example, Twitter user @j_zimms^[8] compared Mosseri's philosophy on July 26th with "pivot to video," a controversial philosophy on Facebook in the late 2010s that ultimately resulted in employee layoffs and closures in media companies.^[9]

Zuckerberg and Mosseri Statements

On July 28th, Meta told Buzzfeed^[10] it would "pause" experimenting with full-screen reels interrupting feeds.

"We definitely need to take a big step back and regroup […] we've learned a lot, then we come back with some sort of new idea or iteration. So we're going to work through that," Adam Mosseri told Casey Newton's Platformer newsletter.

However, Mosseri's statement is at odds with what Mark Zuckerberg said on Meta's quarterly call on July 27th, in which he stated he hoped to make Instagram users' home feeds feature "double" the amount of recommended and algorithmically-driven content that it is now.

Search Interest

External References