Last week we reported that Instagram would push ahead with its plans for Reels, serving up more video content on the platform by automatically sharing any video shorter than 15 minutes as a Reels.
This was part of a larger focus by the social media platform to prioritise video and seemingly keep pace with TikTok, which remains the content app at the moment in terms of engagement.
While not every Instagram user has experienced the new redesign of the platform, a few high profile users have, and they are not fans of how things are panning at currently.
To that end, two celebrity sisters who have already gained accessed to the redesign thanks to the massive following they have on Instagram, have weighed in on what they have experienced so far. Said sisters are Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner, with the latter in particular calling out Instagram for trying to copy the TikTok model.
“Make Instagram Instagram Again,” she noted in a message on the platform. “Strop trying to be tiktok I just want to see cute photos of my friends,” she added.
Spelling mistake aside the feeling is seemingly resonating with other Instagram users, as Kardashian shared a link to a Change.org petition to Make Instagram Instagram Again. At the time of writing it has a little over 127 000 signatures, with a goal of 150k being outlined.
As always, we need to take such petitions with a grain of salt, especially as many of the signatures are likely from followers of Kardashian and Jenner, who have among the top followed accounts on the platform.
There is also the fact that Meta (which owns Instagram) looks quite happy to stay on its current course, with Axios noting last week that the company is aiming to make the several social media platforms it owns look and feel a lot more like TikTok. That means more video and an algorithm-based feed that will push popular content over that from people you follow.
Whether Kardashian and Jenner have enough pull to change the way Instagram chooses to present content is highly unlikely, but if more high profile creators and accounts voice displeasure, perhaps the platform will need to roll back its most recent update.
For now though, it is full steam ahead with the new TikTok-esque approach for Instagram.
