Instagram has plans to change the way the feed shows posts, from chronologically to algorithmically, and the users are not happy.
Long story short, it believes that it knows what the 400 million active users on the video- and photo-sharing platform want to see, so it's stepping in to make things easier for everyone – sort of, at least.
"The order of photos and videos in your feed will be based on the likelihood you'll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post. As we begin, we're focusing on optimizing the order – all the posts will still be there, just in a different order," Instagram says.
Even though the Facebook-owned company only has good intentions in mind, the community is far from ecstatic about the upcoming update. The users have already taken things to Twitter to express their outrage, spreading the word with the hashtag #RIPinstagram.
Why do all social networks assume that we want to have our feeds "optimised"? Just show me things in the order posted #RIPInstagram
— Kate Livingston (@K8Livingston) March 16, 2016
Doesn't removing the chronological / most-recent-first feed basically contradict the name INSTAgram? Come on Product people. #RIPInstagram — Tina M. Abouraya (@TruffleTina) March 17, 2016
I follow people because I want their updates, in chronological order. I don't want you to choose who I see first, @instagram. #RIPInstagram — Sarah Dolislager (@sarahdolislager) March 16, 2016
why do social media company's feel like they have to spice things up now with all these "popularity" algorithms nobody wants #RIPInstagram — Spider-Matt (@mattyMattspade) March 16, 2016
Hey @instagram, you were my favorite social media because you had a simple feed. Don't ruin your best asset with an algorithm. #RIPInstagram — Steven Zurita (@StevenZurita) March 15, 2016
I am going to be disappointed in the Internet if #RIPInstagram doesn't trend on Twitter. — Jason Stein (@jasonwstein) March 15, 2016
On top of that, the users have started a petition on Change.org to prevent the change from landing on the platform they use often. At the time of this writing, it has more than 83,000 supporters who have already signed it, garnering 70,000 signatures in just 24 hours. It probably won't be long until it hits the 150,000 mark.
"We are users of Instagram and do not want to be forced into having our feeds display in an order chosen by an algorithm. We want the ability to at least choose to keep our feeds in chronological order," the petition reads.
Social media aficionados know that this isn't entirely new in the industry, as Twitter also made a similar attempt about a month ago. On that note, the reaction of the Internet is relatively calmer this time around compared to the #RIPTwitter fiasco.
In Instagram's defense, it explicitly states that it'll "get this right and listen to your feedback." In other words, it's out to give something good to the community.
At any rate, this Instagram update for an algorithm-based feed probably won't keep the users away forever, but the social media company has to at least meet them halfway – perhaps an option to turn off the "feature" or something along those lines.
