The future is video, whether you want it or not
Adam Mosseri tries to placate recent criticism of Instagram's Reels feature but fails to understand some marketing fundamentals
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, has put a video on Twitter to ‘address a few things we’re working on to make Instagram a better experience. Please let me know what you think.’
Unsurprisingly people are and they’re not very happy. Nothing new you might say, people moan about everything. Hang on though, watch the video .One user summed it as follows “We have made Instagram sh**e, we’re going to continue to make Instagram sh**e, please get excited.” Whether it's 's***e' or not, it's a car crash of telling and not listening.
The changes Adam is referring to are layout changes (on a/b test), recommendations and video or ‘Reels’. If you’ve used Insta recently, you’ll notice that you’re seeing a lot more video from people you don’t know and a lot less of your friend’s photos.
Instagram remained a fairly simple experience until Tik Tok. Tik Tok is incredibly good at what it does and, not surprisingly, Instagram wanted in on the action. More and more video has been added to Insta but, more recently, users are complaining that they’re not seeing the content they want. As one person put it ‘I just want to see pictures of my friends and for some reason the algorithm has decided to primarily show me videos of small children that are ill?’
On the supply side, many posting content are complaining that, unless they create video, then a far smaller percentage of their target audience now sees their content. Anyone who has created video content knows a) it takes a lot longer and b) it’s hard to create truly original content. If that’s your full-time job or you have ‘people’ then great, but if you’re running a small business, it’s a big shift up in work! As a solopreneur I subscribe to on email wrote in her recent newsletter ‘I don’t know about anyone else but I am not enjoying Instagram right now, quite frankly f*** reels’.
Funnily enough, the only people who seem happy are Tik Tik creators, who can repurpose content across two platforms, and crypto / NFT bros who just seem to delight in any disruption in the hope people might find a use case (that’s a joke, don’t @ me!).
Back to Adam and his video. You might think under the circumstances, a short “we’re listening to your concerns, so tell us what you think” message might be a good idea. Far from it. First up is an admission that a full screen version in a/b testing is “not good yet” (seriously). The second is that we must “’lean into’ video” (I wonder where that phrase comes from?). The third is recommendations. ‘If you see things in your feed that you’re not interested in, that means we’re doing a bad job.’ (*eye roll*) The last is that ‘we’re going to need to evolve, because the world is changing quickly and we’re going to have to change along with it’ (he’s singing to the crypto bro choir here).
Adam might do well to think about some marketing fundamentals.
-Social media platforms rely on matching users to creator content they value and vice versa. If users don’t see the content they want and content creators don’t reach their users, then the platform isn’t working properly.
-Heritage is important. People came to Instagram when it was ‘just’ a site for pictures, so respect that. If video is the future, then people will ‘lean into it’ for themselves because it’s a superior experience. Help people to find new things not beat them into submission.
-Let content creators create the content they want and are good at. Reward the content not the media. A great photo/ illustration is usually better than a mediocre video. How many times do I really need to see random clips of video set to 'Night Changes'. Although perhaps I should consider myself lucky. A few people seem now to be fed a diet of videos of sick children!
-Don’t force customers into a/b testing something and especially things which suck. Some people love trying new stuff out. Use them.
-'The world is changing quickly so we have to change with it' plays well with the crypto/NFT bros but it's not up to users and customers to fit your idea of the future.
-Don't talk down to people. Most people are looking to Instagram for a bit of entertainment and escapism in their spare time, not change the world or fit into your business model. Just give them what they want and build a business model round that. That's always the best way to succeed, whatever you're selling.