.png){kind=logo}
Instagram has unveiled a new update to address users’ complaints concerning the auto-update feed refresh button that has been annoying users all along.
Better known to insiders as a “rug pull”, this feature made the Instagram feed reload each time the application was launched, often leaving users unable to find posts they engaged with to continue reading or watching; Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri recently confirmed the update in a recent Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on social media, saying that the update was made after considering users’ input and realizing the inconvenience such a feature introduces.
Before that, the automatic refresh was utilized to switch to the new content smoothly: the application displayed the posts already downloaded at the time when it downloaded other posts in the background.
Despite this approach trying to increase the amount of time users spent on the website, it just caused the posts to scroll on the screen and users could easily move away from the posts they were already reading. This was testimony by Mosseri who agreed that even though the purpose was to make content more discoverable, it was more often a source of irritation to users who had to scroll back up only for the content to be lost in the refresh.
This will be replacing the one, where Instagram loads new content with the option of having it refresh the screen immediately. Rather, users will be able to scroll through the posts that were loaded when they opened the app. Whenever users start scrolling it will introduce new content below the last posts, thus making for a more fluid and unobtrusive user experience.
This shift calls for user experience in the platform underlines Instagram's strategic change even though a slight reduction in user engagement, which usually thrives on the back of constant feed updates. In Mosseri’s view, though, it suggests a pursuit of a better user experience being achieved through general enhancements. One of the biggest goals in the last iteration was the removal of the automatic refresh and its reception in the community has been positive; People like having more control over their browsing experience.
However, this comes after another update in Instagram where the platform indicated that they intentionally lower Stories and Reels quality that does not receive engagement. This practice is among trying to optimize the computation resources for the high traffic videos; making computation for rich videos. The decision to discontinue the automatic refresh overall supports the concept of maximizing the user experience, irrespective of what this means in terms of relying on the old style ‘engagement-based’ hit techniques.
For Instagram’s large user base, this update represents a shift in how the platform manages content delivery, putting control back in the hands of users and marking a step toward a less disruptive, more streamlined app experience.
