On October 6, 2010, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger launched one of the world's most popular apps in San Francisco: InstagramThis social network has not only fostered a passion for photography, but also encouraged its users to share their most personal and intimate moments through images.
However, 12 years after its launch, Meta's now-popular app is going through an identity crisis, forgetting everything that made it world-famous: wants to promote short videos and all because TikTok is dominating mobile in that format.
Going back in time, there is something very important to highlight. Systrom, one of the founders of Instagram, was a university classmate of Mark Zuckerberg, who would later buy his project.
In any case, the couple started their creation based on the iPhone, specifically the model 4. This tool, named Instagram As such, it was released on October 6th on the App Store.
The app's growth was rapid, with great reception from Apple users. In just a few months, by January 2011, we were already seeing the famous hashtags that remain to this day, facilitating topic searches.
Instagram, from Instantaneous and Telegram, is an attempt by the creators to recall their childhood with Polaroid photographs, a fact also reflected in their first icon. Therefore, it was also common to see square images in honor of these early cameras.
The first photo uploaded to Instagram was titled 'Test' and featured Systrom's pet.
A post shared by Kevin Systrom (@kevin)
The social network, which had become famous on the iPhone in just one year, needed to make the leap into the other major market: Android. In April 2012, the launch was one of the biggest in that decade: more than a million downloads were achieved in a single day.
Such a track record was enough for Facebook, already consolidating in the market, to buy Instagram for one billion dollars, promising administrative independence.
This generated a more significant change in the app: while the logo was changed to a minimalist one and ads and advertisements appeared, Instagram would begin not only to generate its own functions, but also to assimilate those of other companies.
Instagram It began to gain more audiences with the arrival of Stories, posts that only last 24 hours on the profile. However, this feature is not original to the app, but from Snapchat, one of the main competitors in the market.
And that would be one of the main trends the app has followed in recent years, focusing much more on competing with apps from other sectors than creating its own features.
Its founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, no longer agreed with Facebook's handling of the app and left the company. A similar situation occurred with WhatsApp.
IGTV and live streams were coming to Instagram in a clear attempt by the company to compete with YouTube. The results? IGTV is no longer a thing, and live streaming is far from the app's strong suit.
But The most critical case has been that of Reels and the decisions made by Adam Mosseri, current CEO of Instagram.
Reels It was born as a form of competition TikTok, where short videos not only attract more young people around the world, but also keep them on the app longer. What's more, The Chinese app has already surpassed all of Meta's apps, Facebook's new name, in downloads in the last year.
In the framework of its anniversary, Kantar IBOPE Media revealed in its latest edition of the Target Group Index (TGI) study, that Instagram It is the preferred digital platform for 361% of Peruvians born from 1997 onward, who are now popularly known as centennials. It is also the third most used social network, with 511% of Peruvians accessing it in the last 30 days.
The study also highlights that Instagram It was used by 341% of millennials, meaning men and women born between 1981 and 1996. On the other hand, 501% of users who accessed the platform were homemakers.
For the same reason, the entire Mark Zuckerberg conglomerate sees TikTok as the greatest possible threat, which is why he has sent Instagram to attack her.
Mosseri had announced full screens for photos and videos, prioritize short videos and even blocked users who exported their tiktoks to upload them as ReelsThis caused a feeling unique to his 12 years: anger.
Celebrities like Kylie Jenner raised their voices in protest: either you go back to how you were before, or we're gone. "Stop trying to be TikTok“I just want to see photos of my friends,” said the influencer with 371 million followers.
Kim Kardashian herself is reportedly joining the boycott against the app. She has another 300 million followers.
The pressure was so strong that Instagram I had only one way: to pause all transformation. Mosseri acknowledged that he understands the criticism and that his team needs to rethink the features they want to incorporate into the platform. However, this is more of a waiting period than a complete cancellation.
"People are frustrated, and the usage data isn't good. I think we need to take a big step back, regroup, and figure out how we want to move forward," Mosseri said.
Instagram It's at a pivotal moment. It can either satisfy its existing users—and there are quite a few—or try to chase after something new by betraying what made it world-famous. It's not just about photos or videos, but about an entire philosophy of leadership.
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