What the business is
Instagram is Meta's photo- and video-sharing social app, monetized largely through advertising.
The bet
Copying TikTok's algorithmic video feed keeps Instagram's users and advertisers from defecting to the format leader.
How it started
Instagram launched Reels in August 2020 in direct response to TikTok's surge, continuing a copy-the-rival pattern: video for Vine in 2013, Stories for Snapchat in 2016, IGTV for YouTube in 2018.
What happened
By July 2022 the app stretched content full-screen, replaced continuous scrolling with snap scrolling, and its algorithm favored Reels - often videos already viral on TikTok. Mosseri announced Reels would become the only video format on Instagram.
What has to be true
TikTok's surge made short-form algorithmic video the category's growth engine, and Instagram's answer since 2020 was Reels.
Reels that performed best were often recycled TikTok virals, so the algorithm favored competitors' hits over native photo creators.
The redesign changed what the app was - from friends' photo moments to recommended entertainment - without asking the users who made it valuable.
Instagram's earlier overhaul, the 2016 algorithmic feed, survived a 340K-signature petition unreversed, so the same playbook was tried again.
What can be applied
Copying a rival's format can win the metric and lose the product: the loyal users you copy it for are the ones who notice first.
Aftermath
Meta's share price stayed relatively flat after Jenner's post - unlike Snapchat in 2018, which lost over $1 billion of market value after her tweet about its redesign. Whether the petition would change Instagram's direction remained to be seen as of July 26, 2022.
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