The focus on video content isn’t everybody’s cup of tea

Jul 26, 2022 17:53 GMT  ·  By

Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian are the last two high-profile Instagram users that are criticizing the service’s new video approach.

In a similar post that was published this week, the two sisters called for Instagram to stop trying to be TikTok, explaining they just want to see photos, not videos.

“Make Instagram Instagram again. Stop trying to be TikTok. I just want to see cute photos of my friends. Sincerely, everyone,” the Kardashian sisters said in stories posted this week.

Needless to say, both are among the most popular influencers on Instagram, with their combined follower count exceeding 680 million users.

Instagram not so impressed

On the other hand, Instagram seems to stick with its video pivot, with the head of the company Adam Mosseri explaining that photos aren’t going away, only that videos are becoming a more important focus of the service.

“I’m hearing a lot of concerns right now about photos, and how we’re shifting to video. Now, I want to be clear: We’re going to continue to support photos. It’s part of our heritage, I love photos, I know a lot of you out there love photos too,” he said in a tweet.

“That said, I need to be honest. I do believe that more and more of Instagram is going to become video over time. We see this even if we change nothing. We see this even if you just look at chronological feed. If you look at what people share on Instagram, that’s shifting more and more to videos over time. If you look at what people like and consume and share on Instagram, that’s also shifting more and more to video over time – even when we stop changing anything. So, we’re going to have to lean into that shift, while continuing to support photos.”