Instagram and Gmail overhauls spark user base backlash

In the last few weeks, popular apps that we use in our everyday lives have gone through some major changes. 

Changes are not always easy to accept, especially when people become too accustomed to a design or interface. As a result, people are not taking many recent changes lightly. Moreover, many changes nowadays are business centric (e.g. ad revenue) rather than being an actual improvement to the user interface.

Popular apps like Gmail, Instagram, Duolingo etc have brought changes recently which faced fierce user outcry. Google has completely pushed its recent redesign, which was first unveiled in January of this year, to all users now but has also kept the ability to revert back to its previous iteration.

Moreover, Google had to reverse a major Play Store change due to the backlash. The company reinstated app permissions on the play store after it had replaced them for a data safety section that gave users an idea of what data apps were collecting.

Developer of the popular language learning app Duolingo has recently updated its user design and experience. This drew harsh criticism from some ardent users and members of the app's sizable Reddit community. While its CEO Luis von Ahn has admitted the concerns from the users, he said that they do not have any plans to roll back the recent adjustments. 

The most criticisms have been hurled toward Instagram. Instagram users have complained that their feeds are overrun with extraneous material. Additionally, individuals believe they are mostly viewing stuff from accounts they don't follow that has been algorithmically suggested.

Adam Mosseri, the CEO of the app, has even said that Instagram's goal is no longer images as its parent company Meta looks to copy TikTok's meteoric rise in short-form video space.

Instagram said that it was reversing a number of recent changes to its photo-sharing app after Kylie Jenner and other famous celebrities criticised the changes and lambasted the website for trying to mimic TikTok too closely.

However, if you believed that all of the criticism of Instagram's revisions would persuade its leaders to reverse direction, you were mistaken. Mark Zuckerberg addressed the latest controversy around Instagram's algorithmic suggestions during Meta's quarterly earnings conference.

"Social feeds are going from being driven primarily by the people and accounts you follow to increasingly also being driven by AI recommending content that you'll find interesting from across Facebook and Instagram, even if you don't follow those creators," said Zuckerberg.

According to Zuckerberg, around 15 percent of the material in our Facebook feeds is currently provided by Meta's AI. On Instagram, that figure is higher still.

Why do Meta seem to be so determined to show us strangers' reels rather than our friends'? In a period when its income is beginning to drop, Reels is a significant potential revenue generator for Meta. Today, Zuckerberg said that Meta had a run rate of more than $1 billion from Reels advertisements. Additionally, we now spend 30% more time watching Reels than we did the previous quarter, which is likely to attract advertisers. However, it's possible that this rise is the result of the algorithm serving us so many Reels.

At the end of the day, who cares about the average user base as long as you are making profits and keeping stakeholders happy?