Instagram Design Review
Design Review #1, let’s get started with something easy!
Instagram Logo By Alexander Shatov
Unless you have been living under a rock, you must certainly have used Instagram before. Instagram is an app owned by Meta(facebook, Whatever) who bought it in April 2012. The app boasts itself as a social media application focused around photos or videos
Let’s Focus on The Basics
The Scroll~
Instagram Features an Endless scroll that keep bringing content from various other users. This is not a bad idea as it allows your phone to load only until your finger gets fatigued. This becomes problematic though, That is because Instagram wants to keep you on their platform for as long as possible. It is not rare that you see posts from people you don’t follow, based on the posts you interact with. That introduces the scroll of doom, but Peter what is the scroll of doom?
We Humans like to finish things, that is evident by the framework of Gestalt Psychology. We like closure, we like tasks to be done. This then leads to a mental requirement to scroll with your brain thinking “Maybe the next post is the last one”, but in fact, it is not.
This is brilliant, for Instagram of course but it makes is harder for the user to close the application. It does have a solution though, in the top left corner of the application there is a drop down menu next to “Instagram”. If you tap that dropdown menu and click on “following” you’d be able to see posts only from the accounts you follow. You can even go further with this by selecting “Favorites” and only see posts from your favorite accounts.
Stories~
In October 2013 The application Snapchat came out with a feature called Stories. A feature that worked well for their app and their user based, they forgot one little thing though. Snapchat forgot to patent the idea of stories which lead to a lot of other applications copying the idea. Most notably of Which are the Meta companies such as Facebook, Whatsapp, and most importantly Instagram!
Instagram took the idea and ran with it, placing it at the top of the screen and making it accessible to all users at a glance. Not only that, but Instagram started introducing new features such as Hyperlapse and Boomerang. It is not unheard of that people would shoot a video on their Instagram camera, and then save it to their devices., that is instead of using the native in phone camera. This practice came at a cost for a lot of Android device users who don’t get the best camera quality outside of their native camera app.
Just as we saw the with scroll of doom though we see the same thing happen with stories. I personally am yet to find the end of my instagram stories, I always tap through 5 mins worth of content and ads and then just move on.
My advice is to be careful how much time you are spending on there and be careful of what is content and what is an advert.
Photo by Amanda Vick on Unsplash
Reels~
Congratulations! you have made it thus far in the review and have gotten to the most critical part of the review. The Reels! Instagram is now in the business of short form video hosting which is unique. From wedding videos to weird dances, Insta Reels are definitely their own beast.
Of course when you think of Instagram reels you have to think of Tiktok. You wouldn’t be wrong to say that a lot of the videos posted to Inta Reels are just downloaded Tiktok videos. Instagram turns a blind eye to this in a lot of cases because these reels are what keep a lot of users on the application. It would be pretty important to ask though, why not just go on Tiktok? Why do people go through worse quality videos while they can see the originals on Tiktok?
The answer is that because Tiktok is not as mature of an application as Instagram is. Instagram has a whole ecosystem of services around which you can share their reels which Tiktok lacks. I receive approximately 5x more messages containing Reels on Instagram than I do on Tiktok. Keeping in mind that because I use both applications I tend to find The content on Tiktok to be fresh but the content on Instagram to be more refined. Whichever gets more likes on Tiktok gets posted on Instagram.
My advice is to use both but keep an eye on the posting page while on Instagram if you plan on engaging with the creator
Final Verdict
Instagram is a great application to use, connect with people, and to spend some time. It does have its ups and downs and needs a user who is aware of their time and their interactions. Keep an eye on the clock and keep an idea of how much you’re scrolling or tapping. Be careful not to worry about the like counter and always report suspicious activity which tends to be rampant lately.
Make sure you sign up for the newsletter below and comment any thoughts or future web spaces you’d want us to review
