Do you consider yourself a fan of Instagram? Do you enjoy mindless flipping through your newsfeed uninterrupted by others? You enjoy lurking in peace, right? Well, I’ve got bad news.
Since it was acquired by Facebook, Instagram has begun the same similar platform tinkering that Facebook employs. You know what I’m talking about. One day your newsfeed suddenly looks slightly different—there’s a button where there was not a button before. The next day? Back to normal. It’s part of Facebook’s constant state of experimentation to optimize the user experience on its platform.
Instagram has become another testing ground for new features, and the latest update will not please those who prefer to just look at their followers’ photos without interaction. Instagram unveiled a new element to its interface, allowing other users to see when you’re online and browsing the app. It’s similar to the green button in Facebook Messenger that lets your friends know when you’re online and available to chat.
Basically, Instagram is letting people know your DMs are open—even if you’d rather just veg out and aimlessly explore the application.
It’s not a major update, nor is it any kind of deal breaker—like all social media platforms, we’ll complain about changes as they occur and then forget they exist until the next change comes. It’s the ebb and flow of the tech world. With the change, Instagram seems to want to promote its chat capability, and make the platform more peer-to-peer interactive without public eyes. We’ll see how the public reacts.
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