Instagram and its head, Adam Mosseri, has recently revealed that the platform will be “simplifying” its in-app navigation in an effort to focus on connecting users with the “things they love.” Chief amongst the upcoming changes that are scheduled to be reflected on its mobile app next month is the complete removal of the Shop tab on its home screen’s navigation bar.
In addition, the platform says it will also place priority back to the Create/Compose button by returning it back to its rightful position at the centre of the bar. As most Instagram users are aware by now, that spot is currently being held by the Reels, whereas the former sits at the top right of the home screen. That being said, the upcoming refresh will see the latter shifted to the right of the repositioned Create/Compose button.
📣 Navigation Update 📣
The navigation is changing in February to make it easier for people to create, be entertained and connect with friends over the things they love.https://t.co/9tR4kIH9d0 pic.twitter.com/DwinENhku7
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) January 10, 2023
While the Shop tab is no longer accessible from the home screen, the ability to purchase products directly through Instagram will still remain. In his video statement, Mosseri says shopping will still exist in the platform’s feed, Reels, Stories and advertisements; meaning to say that users are only given the option to buy items by interacting with the aforementioned in-app features if such services are provided by creators and advertisers.
Based on both announcements, it appears that Instagram might finally return to its roots of being a social network where users can share photos and videos with each other. Perhaps the biggest complaint from its community regarding the platform’s current direction is its recent attempts to replicate services offered by its closest competitor, TikTok. These include placing a major emphasis on short form video creation, providing an in-app marketplace function, and boosting recommended content on the user’s feeds.
However, as you can already tell, only two of the three mentioned above are being addressed to in the forthcoming update. Whether you like it or not, the platform will continue to push recommendations on your feed instead of defaulting back to the much preferred chronological layout. As it stands, this approach is still in line with Meta’s goal of letting its users discover content from creators (and especially advertisers) that they’ve yet to follow on both Instagram and Facebook.
(Source: Instagram [official blog] / Adam Mosseri)
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