Instagram is testing a new feature that will let users reshare their old posts. With the new “Memory” Story prompt, users will be encouraged to share old posts just to bring back old memories. Some Instagram users are already seeing this new prompt, suggesting that it is just a test.
As shared by Jack Wood, a Twitter user, the new memory feature is basically an archive of your old posts, but repackaged by Instagram in a different way.
It is a more direct push to encourage users to share their past posts just to keep them engaged. The feature is similar to Facebook’s ‘On this day’ prompts.
The feature could be an indication of a bigger issue with Instagram, especially has its growth in the last couple of months has not been particularly encouraging. It worked for Facebook a couple of years ago when it had a decline issue; and it remains to be seen if this would work for Instagram.
Again, it could be just an attempt to encourage resharing, and probably to get people posting about themselves once again. Whatever the reason is, I guess all we have to do is wait.
Last month, Instagram admitted to showing too many videos to its users in 2022. According to Adam Mosseri, the company “overfocused on video in 2022,” which created an imbalance. However, Instagram has started working to correct that and things are getting back to being normal, according to “internal metrics.”
“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,” he said. “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,” Mosseri said per The Verge.
Mosseri comments were made during his weekly Q&A session with users last Friday. He also addressed issues that bother on spam on Instagram, which remain a thorny issue. “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.”
