Instagram is going to become more video-centric, says Adam Mosseri

Instagram will gradually shift to become more of a video platform, even though it will continue to support photos, as per the platform’s Head, Adam Mosseri.

Mosseri, in a short video message, explained and addressed a few key concerns of brands and creators regarding the changes that are being made to the platform. 

 

 

 

 

 

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The platform has been drawing flak from creators and brands for a while now. BuzzInContent.com had earlier reported how the changes have allegedly challenged the organic growth and engagement of posts from brands. Some brands, like The Whole Truth Foods, had also announced that they were going to take a break from the platform, owing to the rapid and constant changes.

In the video, Mosseri confirmed that Instagram has been pushing reels-its short-form content. 

“I want to be clear, that we will continue to support photos. It is our heritage. I love photos, and a lot of you love them too. That being said, and to be completely honest, I do believe that more and more of Instagram is going to become video,” he said. 

“If you look at what people share on Instagram, that is shifting more and more towards video. If you see what people are liking and consuming more on Instagram, that's video. So, we will have to lean into that shift while continuing to support photos,” he added. 

He further said that the platform will continue to support creators and businesses. 

However, the explanation has not gone down well with the creator community who have experienced a direct impact of the changes in the algorithm. Creators allege that it's not people who are consuming video, but rather the platform itself is pushing them to consume video. 

Make-up and lifestyle creator James Charles commented on Mosseri’s address and said, “The reason there’s so much growth for video is because we are being forced to post video. The performance of our photos has tanked more than 90%, so creators are switching to video not because they want to, but because we’re being told that it’s the only chance to grow. The shift to video is not industry-wide, it’s Tik Tok-wide. I understand that every business has to evolve, compete and please investors, but Instagram is losing the competition and has lost its identity along the way. This is devastating to watch as a long-time die-hard fan of the app.” 

“Please listen to everyone that is speaking up; moms, kids, small creators, large creators, businesses, and now A-list celebrities too. We’re upset because we Care about this app and the communities we’ve been able to create/ join here, but I’m genuinely worried that if something doesn’t change, there will be no community left,” added Charles. 

Prior to this, a post about making Instagram photo-friendly went viral and was shared by celebrities and creators like Kylie Jenner. “Make Instagram Instagram again. Stop trying to be TikTok, I just want to see cute photos of my friends,” said the post. 

As multiple complaints have been arising about how users are being forced to watch content from people or creators they don’t follow, Mosseri further also explained how the app will be pushing ‘recommendations’ to people’s feeds.

“The third thing I want to talk about is the ‘recommendations’. Recommendations are posts in your feed from accounts that you do not follow, the idea is to help you discover new interesting things that you might not know even exists. If you are seeing things in your recommendations that you are not interested in, that means we are doing a bad job and we need to improve,” stated Mosseri. 

“You can snooze all the recommendations but we are going to keep trying because we feel recommendations are the most effective way to help creators reach more people. We want to do our best for creators and particularly small creators, we see recommendations are the best way for them to reach new audiences,” he added. 

Concluding with a message for the creators, the Instagram Head said, “This is a lot of change all at once, but know that a lot of things on Instagram are going to stay the same. We are going to stay committed to creators more broadly, we are going to stay committed to photos, and we are going to stay in a place where we try and push your friend’s content to the top of your feed but we are also going to need to evolve because the world is changing quickly.”