Instagram is about to look a lot more like TikTok after implementing changes to its app like a vertical grid to replace its historically square profile grid.
Some users were upset over the changes because they had spent time carefully aligning their square profile grids into beautiful experiences, but I'm sure they'll get over it, as Instagram says it has additional changes in the works to give users more control over how their profiles look.
Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote in a caption on an Instagram post:
“We launched a new tall grid on profile this week and I got a lot of feedback, both positive and quite negative. The goal is a simpler, cleaner place that maintains, and even increases, creator control.”
Here's what else is changing at Instagram:
- Users will be able to adjust the crop of grid images.
- They'll also be able to reorder their grid entirely.
- Users will be able to post directly to their grid without simultaneously posting to their feed. (Love that one!)
- Highlights, which allow users to pin stories to the top of their profile, are also moving to the grid.
- Length of Reels are being increased from 90 seconds to up to 3 minutes.
Mosseri says that vertical post format is here to stay “because most photos and videos that are uploaded to Instagram at this point are vertical and rectangles do a better job showing off those photos and videos.”
The changes make sense, but why not give users the ability to filter their feeds by photos or videos so that they can view only the type of content they desire during a particular scroll session? Meta has made some smart updates over the years, but the one thing it's historically lacked for the past decade is giving users control over what they want to see and when they want to see it. I do understand that algorithmically generated feeds allow for more discovery and subsequently more advertising, but it comes at the expense of user experience.
Every platform turning into a TikTok-like discovery content feed is leaving a huge gap in the market for people who want to do what social media was originally designed for — to keep up with their friends and family. Not every user wants to have videos of creators they've never met shoved down their throats across every platform.