The Meta-owned platform has been on the receiving end of criticism in recent days for its focus on video more than photos on its Feed.
Just last month, Instagram was forced to sideline some of its updates after massive uproar from users worldwide who criticised it for trying to imitate its younger video-sharing competitor TikTok.
But users have not been taking issue with video alone. The platform has lately been prioritising algorithmically generated suggested content over ‘friends’ content, which has also drawn its fair share of backlash.
In a video message shared Tuesday, Instagram Head Adam Mosseri however clarified that suggested content is here to stay and that it is, actually, the “future of the Feed.”
According to the Instagram boss, the platform hopes to make the Feed section full of suggested content because Instagram users are sharing ‘friend’ content through Stories and direct messages now.
“The idea behind Recommendations is to help people discover amazing creators on Instagram that they don’t even know about yet, and our hope is that the future of the Feed will be largely driven by recommendations,” said Mosseri.
“We are seeing that friend sharing is moving increasingly to Stories and to DMs.”
Originally, the platform had a dedicated tab for suggested content called Explore, but Instagram gradually let posts from strangers encroach users’ Feed and Reels tabs.
Mosseri explained that the gradual shift in the Feed section is to make users discover ‘amazing’ content from creators they otherwise would not know, as well as support small creators who need reach for their posts.