What’s clever — and terrifying — about Instagram’s latest update
Is exposing users to more and more sponsored posts really the responsible thing to do?
I woke up early yesterday as I would any other day: Alarm goes off — snoozed — and instead of falling back asleep, I open up Instagram to catch up on all the *important* things I missed from my friends in Tokyo, London, and Greece while sleeping.
Having stayed up late the night before scrolling through Instagram, I hadn’t gone far before I hit a new obstacle. Instagram notified me that I was “caught up” to all the content that I’d missed since the last time I was online.
At first it didn’t even register — it was as if I had hit the bottom, needing to swipe to refresh for new content. So I kept scrolling. It was only after I continued downward, not recognizing any of the handles flying past, that I realized what had just happened.
Scrolling back up, I took a second look at the feature:
“You’re All Caught Up”
“View Older Posts” — as a link.
Then, immediately below:
“Suggested Posts”
From that point onward, I found nothing but sponsored posts. There wasn’t a single account I had previously followed. It scared the hell out of me.
I know that on the surface level that doesn’t seem all that surprising — it’s as if you’ve transitioned to the explore page, giving you more of a chance to see things you’ve never seen before. And with the general understanding that Instagram has a goal to expose its users to as much content as possible, I feel comfortable making the assumption that a majority of the general public doesn’t find it as any surprise either.
While this update may not seem like a big deal, history tells a different story.
Instagram Updates — A Short History
Interestingly enough, Instagram implemented a similar update a little over a year ago to help promote a more mental-health friendly approach for their users. It introduced the same stopping point in your feed, among other changes to its UX, interrupting the endless scroll with a simple notification that alerted you that you were all caught up.
However, the original update was slightly different from the new one. If you continued to scroll downward, you were reintroduced to your old content — all the posts you’d seen previously. The landing page provided an easy stopping point, curbing your curiosity and allowing you to move on with your day. From my observations, it seemed to go unnoticed — users were still up in arms that Instagram hadn’t reintroduced the chronological feed. That update lasted a short while before the next update came along, removing the break in the feed, but bringing back the long-forgotten chronological timeline — everyone was satisfied with Instagram again, and we moved on.
This week’s update takes a slightly different approach to the break-in content: You reach the branded Instagram “check” and notification that you’re up to date, just as before. But if you’re still curious or habituated to continually scrolling like the rest of us, you’ll likely keep moving down your feed as usual.
Unlike the first update, from this point onward you only see sponsored content. To get to your previously seen posts, you need to go to the effort to click the link displayed in small text on the landing page, breaking your usual habits. To people outside the industry, that seems such a minimal cognitive load to put on someone, but it’s all by design.
Dissecting Your Attention
Earlier on in my design education and career, I would have said that this new notification was noble of Instagram; bringing back features to help break the endless scrolling habits they usually perpetuate. Unfortunately, I also know there are entire teams of designers, engineers, and psychologists dedicated to examining and dissecting the human attention span, going through multiple iterations and tests with user groups, thoroughly vetting each update before being released. These changes were intentional, but it’s a fine line to walk between promoting mental health, and taking advantage of it.
Following the recent release of the Netflix Documentary, The Social Dilemma, we can all see how fragile human beings can be, at no fault of our own. So with increased public scrutiny of the platform itself, Instagram needs to be seen as making progressive decisions for the good of its users.
If we zoom out and take a macro view, this update isn’t necessarily a bad thing — more sponsored posts mean more advertising revenue coming in the door. It’s part of keeping a business in the attention economy running. What scares me now with this update is that it’s opening new ways to access the same issues that caused so much uproar in the 2016 elections; something that needs to be monitored now as the 2020 election approaches — if it isn’t already.
Similarly to how Cambridge Analytica utilized and weaponized Facebook data to influence elections in 2016 and earlier — not only in the United States, but across the world — almost anyone with a credit card and a Facebook account can create an ad aimed at whoever they’d like. Whether it’s a personal statement, a political belief, or a funny video of their dog — they can spend the money to send it to anyone they can afford. And despite ongoing efforts by both Facebook and Instagram to continually fact-check all of these posts, during a political climate such as the one we’re in today, there’s no team of content moderators big enough to take on the challenge.
Take it from one of the first people to cracked the code, Former Director of Research for Cambridge Analytica — and eventual whistleblower — Christopher Wiley:
“It’s June 2018, and I’m in Washington to Testify to the U.S. Congress about Cambridge Analytica, a military contractor and psychological warfare firm where I used to work, and a complex web involving Facebook, Russia, WikiLeaks, the Trump Campaign, and the Brexit Referendum. As the former director of research, I’ve brought with me evidence of how Facebook’s Data was weaponized by the firm, and how the systems they build left millions of Americans vulnerable to the propaganda operations of hostile foreign states.”
— Christopher Wiley, Mindf*ck, 2019, p. 5.
In their defense, Facebook reported no knowledge of what Cambridge Analytica was doing with this data at the time, and guidelines have since evolved to help protect against this type of thing happening again, but the underlying principle remains the same: more spending gives you more exposure. And although Cambridge Analytica is gone, many others with malicious or benign intentions work every day to circumvent these evolving safeguards. This new Instagram update is a proofpoint that while spending money for social advertising may not sway your vote, it could shift your point of view even just a percent.
1% of your attention may not seem like much, but 1% of Facebook’s active users is 270 million people.
“A lie told once remains a lie, but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.”
— Joseph Goebbels, German Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda
Repetition Is Key.
I’m not proposing some sort of grand conspiracy or plot to throw this year’s election, but with the presidential debates tonight and the election on the horizon, we need to stay informed and aware of how we consume content online. This is illustrated wonderfully by the Social Dilemma documentary and the story of Cambridge Analytica: the tactics companies are using to grab our attention and buy up our mental real estate can easily become detrimental for society in more ways than one; mentally, emotionally, politically, and systematically. We’re running head-first into a period of time where we will be continuously bombarded with more information than ever before in history, from every side — no matter who you support.
Sponsored advertising through Facebook — and thereby through Instagram — really works. Social advertising is the lifeblood of small and medium-sized businesses in today’s economy. But we must keep in mind that not everyone is trying to simply sell a product or service; some are trying to manipulate the course of history.
As a graduate student currently enrolled at the Royal College of Art and the Imperial College of London studying Global Innovation Design, my goal is to continue to pose these questions, seek to understand how we’ve ended up where we have, and begin to look for a solution. If no solution exists, at least we’ve taken note, not only as designers, but hopefully as people who are all unavoidably involved and — in turn — have a responsibility to do something about it.
I’ve written more about the issues surrounding mental health and social media in my article, The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance, and about the importance of understanding psychology in design in my article, Like American Children in the British Parlaiment.
This is all a work in progress of course, but if you think I’ve missed something, please let me know, always looking for more.
