Faced with backlash from the likes of the Kardashians, Instagram is rolling back several changes it was testing to make its platform more like TikTok. But the bigger problem might be this: How can the Meta platform appeal to different generations who expect different things from social media? Cheddar News’ Michelle Castillo explains what Meta was testing in detail, and what’s next for Instagram.


Closing Bell

Kardashians Slam Instagram for Copying TikTok

Welcome back to closing bell here on cheddar news. Now, after instagram started testing changes to make its platform more like its competitors looking at you, Tiktok. The company is backing off, but it's bringing to lay a bigger problem. How can the meta platform appeal to different generations who expect different things from social media joining us now is introduce senior reporter Michelle castello. So Michelle, what changes is instagram rolling back? Well, there's two main changes that have really angered users and you might not have seen them because a lot of them were in beta testing. One is this full screen experience. It's very similar to Tiktok, but those instagram videos and posts will take over your full screen instead of having any barriers where you can see comments. Now, meta said that they are going to pause that test for this time being and they're going to find way to make it a little bit more pleasing because there was such a backlash against it. The second one that I think more people had noticed was the recommendations. So right now, a little bit north of 15% of the posts you see on instagram are recommended content, meaning it's posts from people that you don't follow already. By the end of 2023. Ceo Mark Zuckerberg said of meta said that he was planning to reach about 30% of content you see on instagram is recommended not from people you follow, they're pausing that as well. The number of recommended posts, you see the number of video posts you see kind of giving people time to breathe before these changes may actually come to reality and we don't really have a choice. So did the changes really upset. I mean, I know, I know it upset me, I'll be honest with you, it was very difficult for me to be on instagram and seeing videos from people I don't follow and seeing videos take up my whole screen and seeing video after video after video. So didn't really upset a lot of people, you know, it did because we saw the Kardashian backlash, but I did find really interesting this morning, I spoke to gen Z insights company knit and they have them survey their users who are gen z users about what they thought about instagram. So the thing is, the majority of people have seen these changes, um about two thirds of them have noticed recent changes, but 46.2% of these jen's ears that were surveyed for us, they feel favorable towards the changes and only 17% felt unfavorable. So I think instagram has a generational problem. This gen z ers younger users are a little bit more okay with the changes that they're seeing, the more recommended content, the more video content because that's what they're used to on social media. But when we joined instagram as the old people, I guess the original we want to post from users that we follow and our friends and we used two pictures. So I think what we're gonna see is this way that instagram is trying to appeal to everyone, but they're gonna find it difficult, especially when the younger generation grew up on a different kind of social media. Yeah, those younger generation used to those moving pictures, those motion pictures you see in the next train now, why is instagram like trying out these specific changes? Well, there's one thing that I think is very telling, so if you remember a few weeks, a few days back while it seems like it's been weeks instagram, ceo adam posted on twitter, why instagram was making these changes and one of the things he noted was he was seeing more engagement with video and also kind of on the side pointing out that we're not posting enough pictures and our and our friends aren't posting enough posts for them to make that a regular con content that you see on your instagram, they have to rely a lot on these recommended accounts. Um that's something that we saw happen on facebook as people moved away from the platform and you start seeing more brands and news stories recommended to you less original content. So this might be a shift that's going to have to happen eventually. So he is saying that he is glad they took a risk, but you know maybe it was too much too quickly and they are going to step back and regroup give people time to make a little bit more of a sense of what's going to happen? But I think this is the future, especially because video ads tend to be more expensive than static ads. So you might see instagram trying to monetize especially as people are looking at meta right now and just wondering how they can turn a profit. Especially this type digital advertising economy. It feels like you're also saying the future is going on social media to be recommended. Video rec commended users to follow them. So essentially follow strangers so we can monetize well, I think it's what's really happening we're seeing is I think the death of the influencer. So if you look at something like Tiktok, I know you're talking a lot about Tiktok influencers, but if you look at the platform itself, you're not really, you have any chance to go viral on that platform. It's not really certain accounts people follow, it's more trends and the ability to stand out from a crowd, it's more of an entertainment platform. I think younger generations are exp that yes, they might follow friends and family and they might notice certain influencers, but it's less of a, oh, this person has hundreds of thousands of followers, let's follow them and more of this micro influencer movement where people who have niche content or niche topics can still build a sizable fan base. Maybe not as big as the millions of people we saw on youtube in the past, but still find ways to connect with their audience because it seems more authentic than just someone who might be popular for popularity sake. All right. So what does this mean for metas bottom line? I think meta is in a very interesting position right now. We talk a lot about the pulling back of advertising spend as people worry about inflation and also the upcoming recession. Brands are a little wary to advertise because if people aren't shopping wise, why offer products if you're not gonna buy them anyway. So meta has to find ways to make sure that each that they can appeal to as many advertisers as possible. They make up about 21% of the U. S. Digital advertising pie right now. So they are still be part but they have to continue to monetize, they have to continue to bring in new users and while they're doing that according to their latest their latest earnings report this past Wednesday, they need to continue to do that on a annual basis And um it is slowing down from either the revenue year over year growth and also the number of users they can add each quarter when it comes to Youtube shorts. And I were supposed to talk about instagram, what is Youtube shorts doing right to stay out of the headlines when it comes to their changes. That meta is doing so wrong. You know, I think youtube shorts is an interesting thing is we don't really talk about it a lot but they do have a sizable base. And I think one of the things is that they already know how to monetize video. They have a lot of the plans in place. A lot of advertisers trust Youtube and they trust their brand safety protocols. So moving over to Youtube shorts is something that they can add to their, by without worrying about. Will this make sense for our users? They get it. It's video to video. It's not anything foreign for them. Youtube shorts also has a good international audience and I think that Youtube also does well internationally. So they're getting ad spend from other people and also viewers from other places. I think India is pretty big for Youtube shorts as well. So they're a little bit different of a product they don't face as much regulatory issues as you're seeing with Tiktok. Um, so I think that it's a really interesting product that is one to watch, but they aren't really based around a social media model. So I think they get around a lot of those, um, more critical scrutiny, especially when it comes to image and appearance that you might see face meta facebook. Um, uh, sorry, meta Tiktok, sorry, meta Tiktok instagram and the, and the like interesting, I could talk about social media with Michelle all day, but we have to wrap up cheddar news, senior reporter Michelle castello, thank you so much for breaking that down