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Don't write any epitaphs for Instagram just yet.
Although some have already sentenced the social network to death and have assured that it is "finished", as journalist Kate Lindsay recently wrote about The Atlantic, the platform might be going through a midlife crisis.
The photo-sharing app has tried out several new identities since its launch in 2010. It has mimicked Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, and, most recently, BeReal. Through all its phases and adjustments to its algorithm, the influencers and business owners have adapted time and again to the platform.
One Instagram use case in particular has gained traction, according to industry insiders: Find people, follow them, and connect via text message.
Sounds like LinkedIn, right? But when you meet someone new, where do you usually go to add them? For many, especially in the creator ecosystem, the answer is Instagram.
"Instagram has replaced business cards", he recently said influencer Austen Tosone a Business Insider"It's that first impression, that community center, that place where someone can go and in a second get an idea of, 'Who is this person?'"
"It's like a Rolodex," says Christen Nino De Guzman, creator, startup founder, and former employee of both TikTok and Instagram. "It's a directory of everyone I know in different areas of my life, from family to personal relationships, to former coworkers or people who are simply in the same industry as me."
For other creators like Tejas Hullur, Instagram is the main DM platform. It's also where you connect with other creators.
And for business owners, it can be just as important.
"I couldn't do my business without Instagram DMs.", adds Eric Wei, a former employee of the platform who left to found the startup fintech from the Karat creator economy.
In recent years, Instagram has shifted its focus to its messaging tools. Businesses can set up a streamlined DM inbox, brands can partner with influencers through the app's creator marketplace, and creators can initiate paid group chats through subscriptions.
Double down on messaging and develop tools to expand the ways creators use Instagram as a calling card It could buy Meta time in its race to keep users hooked.. It could also become a big business.
Reuters
Figuring out how to monetize messaging isn't that simple. For example, Meta has struggled to convert its $22 billion acquisition of WhatsApp in a big business.
More recently, however, the tech giant has prioritized ways to monetize its ecosystem of messaging tools across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. In particular, the company has focused on the intersection of commerce and conversations.
This year, Meta hosted "Conversations" in May, a developer event focused on enterprise messaging, after canceling its larger annual developer event, F8.
Mark Shmulik, senior analyst at investment firm AB Bernstein, took this as a sign.
"It was an interesting indicator of where they want the indie developer community to spend their time and what's important to them," Shmulik tells Business Insider.
Shmulik noted that messaging has also taken center stage during Meta's results presentations.
"Beyond Reels, messaging is another great monetization opportunity", said Mark Zuckerberg to investors during Meta's third quarter in October. The announcements Click-to-Messaging, which brands can use to direct users to DMs through ads, is one of the "fastest-growing advertising products" from Meta, Zuckerberg said then.
"We are very optimistic about the future of paid messaging in the coming years," added David Werhner, Meta's chief financial officer.
Heading into 2022, messaging was one of Instagram's top priorities (along with Reels, its TikTok competitor).
"We believe Instagram can be the best place for people to connect with their friends about their interests.", said the head of the social network, Adam Mosseri, in a video at the end of December 2021. And at the beginning of 2021, when he himself declared that the platform It was no longer just a photo-sharing app, noted that the action of sharing content on the platform had moved away from the feed or the stories, and had moved to the DMs.
"As more social interactions move to messaging, we're developing a flywheel between discovery and messaging that's going to make these apps stronger," Zuckerberg said on the October call. "On Instagram alone, people are already sharing again." Reels 1 billion times a day via DMs."
So it should come as no surprise that Meta is expanding its suite of messaging offerings on Instagram.
This year, Instagram launched Subscriptions, a new way for creators to monetize their content and interactions with fans. This feature gives creators the ability to launch paid services, such as in-app group chats. Meta has said it won't take a cut from Subscriptions until 2024.
Paid content platforms like Patreon and community engagement apps like Discord have already become favorites among creators. And Meta is likely watching this closely.
"TikTok has shown Meta how quickly another company can come along with a slightly different feature or way of using the product and steal these users' timeshare," Shmulik says. "They're trying to move a little faster to replicate some of those style features to see if it actually gains traction with their core audience."
Meanwhile, Instagram appears to be rolling out "starred posts" and "roll call", two new messaging features, according to reverse-engineered prototypes shared by the mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi. Starred posts appear to be categories for sorting posts (similar to highlights in Stories), while the prototype of roll call It looks like a BeReal-meets-Snapchat messaging interaction that asks group chat members to send a photo or video within a time frame.
Meta did not want to make any comment on these prototypes when Business Insider has contacted them.
"Instagram should focus on more features that make it easier for people to connect or message others.", highlights Nino De Guzman.
Perhaps one of Facebook and Instagram's previous mottos, "Bringing you closer to the people and things you love," could be repeated.
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