Instagram is now testing a new way to encourage users to engage with recent and relevant content on this photo and video sharing platform. The popular social networking service is experimenting with shuffling its hashtags and removing the ‘Recent’ tab to make your viewing experience on the platform more varied. But the innovation is getting some mixed responses.
A trial that is currently being held for a small group of Instagram users will let people discover and interact with all kinds of recent posts related to a specific hashtag. However, those posts will only include entries with the highest count of likes and short, entertaining videos called Reels.
Even though the company made it clear that the change was temporary to see how users liked the new option to connect to the fascinating content on hashtags, some started criticizing the initiative right away, claiming it would only make it harder for the app users to engage with recent content.
On their arrival, hashtags were a handy tool for putting photo trends in the spotlight; with time, however, those have turned into another way for the Instagram audience to increase their visibility and score more likes and clicks. Now, with the ‘Recent’ tab being gone, users can no longer view content in chronological order, and all that remains is the ‘Top’ tab, where users can only see entries with the most likes.
Do you agree with the critics who say that Instagram has been deleting features to promote Reels as a more natural (and marketable) alternative to the traditional photo viewing experience? Do you find it invasive to be forced to engage with more system-sorted content instead of viewing it in the order it was posted? Let us know what you think by leaving a comment below, and do not forget to tell about this post to your friends!
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