In an accidental update today, a feature Instagram was testing made it out into the wild, and the Internet sure responded. In the space of 15 minutes, I must’ve counted 20 posts going up my Facebook feed from people wondering what the hell was up with Instagram, with a horizontal “tap-to-view” feed.
Now, Instagram boss, Adam Mosseri says it was just a small test that “went broad by accident”. Looking at the feedback online, I think they’ll likely decide their test has run its course and failed. The app has been rolled back to its pre-screwup state, although a few users are still reporting issues.
The feature was first reported back in October by TechCrunch, who said at the time that it was just being tested internally and only on the app’s Explore page. But the latest update, that was only supposed to enable the feature on a small selection of users for testing seems to have been deployed to the general Instagram user base.
@samsheffer @instagram wtf is this, please undo this pic.twitter.com/WRws3Trwjy
— Daniel (@Dani3lNe) December 27, 2018
As expected, The Twitterverse wasn’t very happy with the new look Instagram.
(i don't, it's absofuckinglutely terrible, just seeing how ratio'd this tweet can get)
— Casey Neistat (@CaseyNeistat) December 27, 2018
Social media consultant Matt Navarra posted a poll to his Twitter feed, asking what people thought of it.
Instagram’s NEW tap-to-view post feed…
— 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁 𝗡𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮 (@MattNavarra) December 27, 2018
With almost 7500 votes, the poll is currently sitting at 90% hate and 10% love. So, maybe there is a small niche out there who prefers the horizontal scrolling format. Mosseri was quick to respond to the poll.
That was supposed to be a very small test that went broad by accident. Should be fixed now. If you're still seeing it simply restart the app. Happy holidays! 😬
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) December 27, 2018
But, there are those who think that the tap is the way of the future and that Instagram themselves expects Stories to overtake posts on the regular feed. So, maybe we will see a return to this format at some point.
I sure hope not, though.
[via Engadget / Business Insider]
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