Instagram CEO says photos will always be ‘important’ for the app – Times of India

Last year, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri made it clear that the social media platform wasn’t a “square photo-sharing app” and that the focus would be on videos. This didn’t go down well with a lot of photographers who felt that Instagram was pushing videos, Reels or more of video content in some form. Now, Mosseri has acknowledged that. In a question asked on his Instagram Stories, Moses said that focus on photos had gone down. “I think we were overfocussed on video in 2022 and pushed ranking too far and basically showed too many videos and not enough photos,” he said. We definitely have a number of photographers who have been upset.”

Photos to be an important part of Instagram

Mosseri said that the social media platform will continue to “lean” into videos but it still values photos. “Photos will always be a part of Instagram,” he said.
He also explained that Instagram has attempted to strike the right balance between photos and videos. “We’ve since balanced, so things like how often someone likes photos versus videos and how often someone comments on photos versus videos are roughly equal, which is a good sign that things are balanced,” he said.
He also said that if people see more video content on Instagram then that’s because videos are “what’s driving overall engagement more.”
Photos, however, will always be an important part of Instagram, Mosseri reiterated. “There are always going to be people who love and are interested in finding photos on Instagram and elsewhere. And I want to make sure that we’re very clear about that,” he added.
Instagram has focused — and invested — heavily in Reels in order to take on the stiff competition that has emerged from TikTok in the last couple of years. Even Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta, had admitted that TikTok’s dominance had made the company make quite a few changes.