Good news to those who waited for Instagram to “go back to its roots”—the platform is set to, once again, focus on photos in 2023.
In his own Instagram Live early this year, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri elaborated on the plans they have for the platform, including prioritizing still images, a 360-degree shift from last year when they announced that “IG is no longer a photo-sharing app” and that they wanted to highlight other formats (mainly videos).
The social media platform has undergone several changes after being acquired by Facebook in 2012. After witnessing the impressive growth of TikTok and Youtube, IG cemented its own foray into the video format, much to the dismay of many users, with the introduction of Stories and IGTV—which have, since then, became very critical to the recent growth of the platform.
But after years of updates, it is understandable that not everyone was sold on the decision to recommit to images. Even Social Media Today has called this an “identity crisis”, egging more experts to weigh in on the platform’s seemingly lack of direction.
“I think we were overfocused on video in 2022 and pushed ranking too far, and basically showed too many videos and not enough photos. We’ve since balanced, so things like how often someone likes photos versus videos, and how often someone comments on photos versus videos, are roughly equal, which is a good sign that things are balanced.”
It’s still too early to see how all of these will play out, but one thing’s for sure—this does not mean a waning of the video format and other content types within Instagram. Recommitment on the part of Instagram execs is one thing, but much of this will still be determined by how the users themselves interact with and dictate the content within the platform.
This development will entail more adjustments for brands and their content strategists. But it’s nothing careful planning and execution can’t overcome. Overall, what Instagram seeks to do is to realign its users’ experiences so as to serve them better in a way that best fits their demands.
