After being accused of neglecting images on its platform, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri recently that Instagram will begin testing ultra-tall 9:16 photos “in a week or two.” The new image format will match the full-screen Reels the platform is adamant about adopting.
After landing in hot water for pushing Reels on its platform, Instagram is trying to treat images equally
It’s no secret that Instagram has become heavily saturated with Reels. Recently, the company announced that it would begin testing a full-screen feed for images and Reels. The move was likely made to compete with TikTok.
However, shortly after the announcement, Instagram faced a ton of backlash from a ton of users including celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian. All in favor of one thing, n “Make Instagram Instagram Again.” and “stop trying to be TikTok.” Following the criticism, the company confirmed that it would “take a big step back, regroup, and figure out how we want to move forward.” One thing is for sure, it is going to continue pushing the full-screen feed.
During a weekly Ask Me Anything session, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said that the platform would be testing 9:16 photos soon. “You can have tall videos, but you cannot have tall photos on Instagram,” Mosseri said. “So we thought maybe we should make sure that we treat both equally.”
So, it will not be shutting down the full-screen interface. Instead, it is attempting to ensure that images are treated equally in the updated feed.
Currently, users can only post 9:16 images on Stories. Images posted to the feed are restricted to the 4:5 format unlike Reels, which can be posted in the 9:16 ratio. The new format will allow taller pictures to be posted, but they will be slimmer too, allowing them to fill up the entire screen in the full-screen interface.
This is good news for photographers who had several complaints about the full-screen format. Not only did the format not include proper support for images but it obscured parts of them.
The company will begin testing the new ratio for images in the coming week or two. It will be interesting to see what feedback it will receive.
(via The Verge)
