Head of Instagram responds after Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian endorse call to ‘Make Instagram, Instagram Again’

The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri was quick to respond after a Change.org petition to “Make Instagram, Instagram Again” received an endorsement from both Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner.

Adam, in a video he posted on Instagram a day after the endorsement said, “If you’re seeing a new, full-screen version of a feed or you’re hearing about it, know that this is a test. It’s a test to a few percentage of people out there, and the idea is that a more full-screen experience. But I also want to be clear, it’s not yet good.”

The very same day that Kim and Kylie endorsed the petition, they also re-shared a post which was circulating on the platform by photographer @illumitati. The original post itself read: “Make Instagram, Instagram Again, Stop trying to be TikTok, I just want to see cute pictures of my friends. Sincerely, everyone.”

After re-sharing the post, it received over 2.24 million likes and the number is still growing as of today.

Some of the major complaints about Instagram lately has been toward the platform pivoting to videos and less on photos. Another complaint, or better yet, demand has been for the platform to return “chronological timelines,” which was very popular when the platform first launched.

A recent study from Later, found that, “The average engagement rate for feed posts in 2019 was 5.16%. By the end of 2021, this number decreased to 2.88%. And the downward trend is consistent for traditional feed posts (images, carousels, and videos) too.”

This would suggest that the social media platform has been diluting in user engagement and interaction. Regardless of the complaints and the demand, the Head of Instagram has made it clear that he still is continuing to invest in video.

As Mosseri states, “The second thing I’m hearing a lot of concerns about is photos, and how we’re shifting to video. Now, I want to be clear that we’re going to continue to support photos. That said, I do believe more and more of Instagram is going to become video over time.”