The ultra-tall photo feature can be a good change for anyone who doesn’t want to crop parts of the image.
Instagram Ultra-Tall Photos
Instagram is not stopping with full-screen content. CEO Adama Moserri confirmed that the social media platform will begin experimenting with ultra-tall photos. Tall videos are already available but there are no tall photos. The platform thinks that these must be treated equally.
The tallest photos you can post can be around 4:5. If taller photos will be introduced, users can see photos that will fill the entire screen as they scroll their feed.
Is Instagram Stopping TikTok-Style Feed?
After a mountain of criticisms, Instagram is walking back some of its changes to the product. Instagram users have grown frustrated over a series of changes that the platform has implemented.
The changes aim to ensure Instagram will compete with TikTok. On Twitter, for instance, users post tweets that criticized the new Instagram.
Users do watch more videos online, even before the rise of TikTok. However, when it comes to Instagram, people dislike the design changes. As a result, the usage data is not great. Instagram thinks that the backlash is a sign for them to take a huge step back, and regroup.
During the redesigned test with users, the company admitted that the full-screen experience was ideal for videos but not for photos. Users want an ultra-tall photo experience without mandating it across the platform.
Instagram is committed to improving how it ranks photos and videos. It will also implement changes to enhance recommendations. But the threats are not over.
TikTok remains the most downloaded app in the world. At the beginning of 2022, more than 176 million people downloaded the app. It is the fifth app to reach more than 3.5 billion total downloads. Instagram, on the other hand, landed second. It got more than 151 million downloads. Previously, the Facebook-owned photo-sharing app was the most downloaded.
Because of how TikTok overtook Instagram’s dominance, the company’s earnings have been significantly impacted. But the rise of TikTok isn’t the only reason Meta’s profit is declining.
Meta’s main advertising has been affected because of Apple’s tracking transparency. Because of that, it lost billions of dollars. Meta also reported a quarterly revenue decline. But the number of time users spent watching Reels increased by 30%. It only suggests that users want short-form videos. Thus, Facebook thinks it deserves a prominent place on Instagram.
Unfortunately, Instagram needs to figure out how to include those videos in a crowded app. Family, creators, and friends, as well as e-commerce projects, are fighting for users’ attention. This is a true challenge for Instagram which once dominated the scene because of its simplicity and craftsmanship.
Many people thought that TikTok would die out. But it has proven that it is staying here for good. The platform knows how to give its viewers “dopamine” that allows them to lose hours of their day watching videos on the platform. And Instagram could not duplicate (although it is been trying so hard).
