Instagram doesn’t consider itself to be a platform where people share photos anymore, according to a series of comments made by the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri. “We’re no longer a photo-sharing app or a square photo-sharing app,” Mosseri said in a video he posted to his social media accounts this week.
ALSO READ: TikTok removes over 7.3 million suspected underage accounts
The main reason for this decision is that people come to Instagram “to be entertained,” and Instagram is not the only app that offers that in the marketplace. According to Mosseri, the company is aiming to lean into entertainment and video after analysing the success of competitors like Youtube and TikTok.
“Let’s be honest, there’s some really serious competition right now,” Mosseri said. “TikTok is huge, YouTube is even bigger and there are a lot of other upstarts as well.” Mosseri added that Instagram has to change in order to embrace that aspect of itself.
Some of the upcoming changes and experiments being brought in by Instagram will include more recommendations to users for topics they don’t follow. Furthermore, the video experience will be made more immersive by offering a full-screen experience. Mosseri states that the company wants to “embrace video more broadly.”
Instagram has been experimenting with algorithmic additions in the main feed; however, the idea of basing them on topics that users can choose appears to be a new one. Instagram is attempting to deviate from its image of a “square photo-sharing app” to an entertainment app that is driven by videos and algorithms.
