Instagram wants photographers to know that it hasn’t abandoned them.
As reported by The Verge, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri was hosting a weekly Q&A with users this week when was pressured about the company’s recent focus on video. Between more videos in the feed to the launching of Reels, the app has made a big turn in its focus, worrying users who love Instagram for photography.
Mosseri admitted that the company was “overfocused” on video last year and promised that the company was committed to taking a more balanced approach going forward. According to the CEO, “how often someone likes photos versus videos and how often someone comments on photos versus videos are roughly equal.”
You can read the entire transcription on his answer below:
We definitely have a number of photographers who have been upset. I want to be clear: though we are leaning into video, we still value photos. Photos will always be a part of Instagram.
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. And so, to the degree that there is more video on Instagram over time, it’s going to be because that’s what’s driving overall engagement more.
But photos are always going to be an important part of what we do. And there are always going to be people who love and are interested in finding photos on Instagram and elsewhere. And I want to make sure that we’re very clear about that.
Mosseri also touched on spam, saying that “we definitely have spam and bots on Instagram. We’re doing our best to reduce it. I’m particularly worried about comments right now; it’s something that we’re actually actively looking into and hope to improve over the course of the year.”
Mosseri’s comments come on the same week that Instagram launched Quiet Mode, a new option that turns off notifications and lets people know you are away when they direct message you. It’s basically Apple and Google’s screen time features baked directly into the app.
