Instagram's Following Activity Tab Is Going Away (buzzfeednews.com) 15
Instagram is removing the "Following" tab -- a feed that shows the likes, comments, follows of your friends. "Beginning this week, the heart tab will display only your own activity," reports BuzzFeed News. From the report: Instagram launched its "Following" tab as an early feature back in 2011, long before its Explore tab debuted. At the time, Following was the best way to discover new content, since it would show you things your friends were liking. But that's no longer true now that Explore has established itself as the primary means of discovering new stuff on Instagram.
Now that Following has disappeared, it's likely few people will notice it's gone. Vishal Shah, Instagram's head of product, told BuzzFeed News it wasn't a feature that people used frequently and that the company suspected many users didn't know it existed. And for those that did, it was often a source of unwelcome surprises. "People didn't always know that their activity is surfacing," Shah said. "So you have a case where it's not serving the use case you built it for, but it's also causing people to be surprised when their activity is showing up." "Simplicity was the driving factor," Shah said of Instagram's decision to remove the Following tab.
Now that Following has disappeared, it's likely few people will notice it's gone. Vishal Shah, Instagram's head of product, told BuzzFeed News it wasn't a feature that people used frequently and that the company suspected many users didn't know it existed. And for those that did, it was often a source of unwelcome surprises. "People didn't always know that their activity is surfacing," Shah said. "So you have a case where it's not serving the use case you built it for, but it's also causing people to be surprised when their activity is showing up." "Simplicity was the driving factor," Shah said of Instagram's decision to remove the Following tab.
Facebook too please (Score:4, Insightful)
Ok, now add (or remove) the same to Facebook. I don't care what my friends liked or disliked, or if they commented on someone's post, and I don't want them to know my activity either.
Re: (Score:2)
Ok, now add (or remove) the same to Facebook. I don't care what my friends liked or disliked, or if they commented on someone's post, and I don't want them to know my activity either.
Does't that kind of run against the point of social media?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
No. I want to see what my friends posted, not what someone that I don't know and who is not on my friends list posted.
Problem finally solved (Score:3)
The real driving factor... (Score:5, Interesting)
The real driving factor is that this continues to push Instagram to be the arbiter of what you see in your feed.
As someone who has been permanently "de-recommended" on IG due to my artwork (which is rather tame and follows the rules), this is just one more nail in the coffin guaranteeing that I won't find any new followers on IG organically. And one more reason I'm slowing extricating myself from all things Facebook.
Re: (Score:1)
my artwork (which is rather tame and follows the rules)
Citation required! Why no link?
Linky (Score:2)
You might have not noticed it, but /. has this concept of "homepage" (because it was still built back at a time when people actually had their own website in the early web era, before the "Web 2.0" bullshit bingo buzzword convinced everybody to trust everything onto "somebody else's computer [xkcd.com]")
Look at parent poster's post [slashdot.org]. At the right side its header there's a "Homepage" link pointing to https://www.tallent.us/ [tallent.us]
There you have not only his instagram link [instagram.com] (that you might have guessed anyway, based on his /. ni
Buzzfeed news? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Whew (Score:2)
Aaaaaand.... (Score:2)
Checking what your daughter is liking (Score:3)
My teenage daughter has an Instagram account. I got one when she did, she is the only person I follow and I never post anything. I found that tab useful to see what she is liking or commenting on.
It is useful for making sure that she is not getting into conversations with internet crazies.