Earlier this week Instagram began rolling out some significant UI changes to its app, with video prioritised and a new algorithm set to push more popular content to the top of feeds instead of content from those you are following on the platform.

Needless to say the reaction from the community was visceral, with two high profile users in the form of Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner voicing their displeasure and serving as an extension of the frustration felt by the larger community.

In response, Instagram has decided to walk back some of its most recent changes as the desire to be more like TikTok has rubbed many a user the wrong way.

To that end, Instagram head Adam Mosseri explained what the current stance is.

“I’m glad we took a risk — if we’re not failing every once in a while, we’re not thinking big enough or bold enough. But we definitely need to take a big step back and regroup. (When) 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,” he noted in an interview via The Verge.

While the framing of the company as being “risk takers” is a little irksome, the fact that it is acknowledging its mistake should be commended.

That said, it remains to be seen whether Instagram will indeed heed the advice of Kardashian and Jenner and simply focus on letting its users see pictures of their friends on the platform.

If Mosseri’s words are to be believed, it looks like video is still a priority for the platform. As such, it will continue to be a big focus and will likely take the guise of a future update or significant redesign.

“For the new feed designs, people are frustrated and the usage data isn’t great. So there I think that we need to take a big step back, regroup, and figure out how we want to move forward,” he said.

“I think we need to take a step back, in terms of the percentage of feed that are recommendations, get better at ranking and recommendations, and then — if and when we do — we can start to grow again,” he concluded.

[Image – Photo by Alexander Shatov on Unsplash]