What does a good teacher do when he's in trouble with his class?
He sits down with them and talks frankly about all the things that could have gone wrong.
That's probably what Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, thought when he uploaded a video to his profile three days ago;
he wanted to "take some time" and "clarify a few things".
Because there was a lot of trouble with his class, and his class is big – the platform, which belongs to the Facebook group Meta, has around 1.2 billion active users.
Caroline O Jebens
Editor in the “Society & Style” department.
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What he was accused of was that Instagram was evolving into a video platform and trying to be like competitor Tiktok.
Many didn't like that;
neither do half-sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, who each have well over 300 million followers (Jenner is the most-subscribed woman).
In Trumpian fashion, they demanded, "Make Instagram Instagram Again."
Excitement about algorithm
But what makes Instagram to Instagram?
The platform was once there for editing photos with as many filters as possible and sharing them with friends: photos of food, of vacations, of parties, things like that.
A good ten years ago, the function of being able to send personal messages was added;
A few years later, the so-called stories followed, i.e. pictures and videos that are only visible for 24 hours if you don’t attach them to your profile.
And for two years there have been so-called "reels", i.e. short videos edited together from public profiles, which are displayed in a separate tab.
All of these additions were grudgingly accepted, because at least the content of those you actively follow was kept separate from the ones you were suggested.
The fact that foreign videos are now also being displayed in the usual feed, mixing hand-curated and algorithm-suggested videos, upset both the common users and the powerful Kardashians.
After all, there is Tiktok for this type of video.
The app is owned by Chinese tech giant Byte Dance and has garnered nearly as many active users as Instagram since 2018.
The app thrives on the supposed randomness of its short video clips, which mostly contain dancing, singing, comedy or memes, but are also used for activism.
Teacher Mosseri explained to his class that this supposed randomness also works for Instagram: With these “recommendations” (i.e. videos from unsubscribed profiles that are “recommended”) you can discover things that you didn’t know existed She gives!
The algorithm, for Mosseri the reading key to Instagram.
Incorporating the functionality of another app had worked once before, namely with Snapchat.
Their main function was the disappearing pictures and videos with face filters, which is what the Instagram story is today.
When Kylie Jenner declared that she no longer actually uses Snapchat, the platform's fate was sealed.
The fact that Jenner, who has earned a fortune with make-up products on Instagram, is now not seeing photos of her friends in her feed, but rather influencers who show her how to put on make-up, probably annoys her.
30 percent more profit from reels
If users are shown content that they find stupid, that's his fault, says Mosseri: "Then we've done a bad job." After the harsh reaction of users, the function was initially turned off.
But what is this “job” that Instagram is supposed to do?
"I want to be honest";
says Mosseri in his video.
We will continue to rely on video.
Why?
"The world is changing!
We also have to change.” In an interview with the industry portal “The Verge”, he explained it more precisely: As far as the big creators are concerned, Instagram is doing well.
But now you have to take care of the little ones, because they also need a fixed income, a certain stability.
What he is actually saying is: If you want to assert yourself as an influencer or "content creator", you don't have to let yourself be eaten by bigger ones.
What he means by that is: Reels get clicked.
In Meta's earnings report for the second quarter of this year, Mark Zuckerberg stated that the time users watch reels increased by 30 percent.
So from Meta's point of view, it's only a matter of time before users get used to it.
After all, that was the case with Facebook's new functions: when Facebook introduced the "News Feed", there was a lot of criticism.
But the group stuck to the data collected.
And they said: Users spend more time on the platform.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal later showed what excesses this new function brought with it.
When asked what his idea for Instagram was, Mosseri said in an interview: The focus is still on people “who love each other being in exchange”.
But they should probably do it mainly through content that can be monetized.