Kardashian, Jenner call out Instagram for looking too TikTok-y and get instant response from CEO
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- The movement to keep Instagram photo-centric in the era of TikTok videos just got a new megaphone... or two.
So, what does it take take to get the CEO of a major company to respond to your complaint in less than 24 hours? Well, it helps to be a Kardashian or Jenner and have a combined 600 million followers on that CEO's social media platform.
Sisters Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner posted two separate, but identical Instagram stories asking to, "Make Instagram Instagram Again."
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri responded Tuesday, less than 24 hours after their posts.
"I wanna be clear, we're going to continue to support photos. It's part of heritage. I love photos and I know a lot of you love photos too. That said, I have to be honest, I do believe more and more of instagram is going to become video over time."
Mosseri's response was nearly two minutes long.
The once photo focused social media platform is serving up more videos from folks users don't follow in their feed. Abrar Al-Heeti, a culture reporter for CNET says this is a direct result of the influence of TikTok.
"When you scroll through TikTok you see endless videos from people you don't necessarily follow and the algorithm learns what you wanna see and continues to feed you that content. Now, instagram is following that model and they're showing you content from people you might not follow," she told KPIX5.
It's a change that San Francisco tourist Kaylani Zhang has noticed.
"Because when I go on that platform I wanna see cute stuff my friends post and I feel like it's just a waste of time. I expect to see my friends and I don't get what I expect," she said.
So has photographer Audrey Butler.
"There is huge demand for Instagram as just still images at least from what I see from within the photography community. There is a demand for things like reels and TikTop, but yeah people do want their still image feeds again."
But the reason for the Insta-response to Kim and Kylie's complaints? Go ask Snapchat and the billion of bucks they lost when Kylie complained years ago.
"Back in 2018, Kylie Jenner said she didn't want to use Snapchat anymore because it had gone through a redesign and she felt like it was no longer doing what she wanted it to do. Snapchat actually took a really big hit from that. Its stock dropped more than 8 percent that day," Al-Heeti said.
She added, the reason for the change from photos of your friends to videos posted by strangers is money.
"If they can get you to scroll for three hours and make you lose track of time - then they've won."
The push to stop financial bleeding from Kim and Kylie's complaints may have been for nothing. Meta, the parent company of both Facebook and Instagam saw stock prices drop 4.5 percent on Tuesday.