Instagram has reached a new milestone of three billion monthly active users. This announcement was made by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram Head Adam Mosseri. This figure marks significant growth for the platform, which first hit one billion users back in 2018.
In a recent video, Adam Mosseri explained that the platform’s growth in recent years has been primarily driven by direct messages, Reels, and content recommendations. Because of this success, Instagram plans to continue focusing on these areas. The app will be reoriented more around DMs, Reels, and recommendations over the coming months.
However, this shift in focus has not been without controversy. The emphasis on short-form video and recommendations from accounts users do not follow has caused some frustration. Many users have expressed a preference for seeing photos and content from people they already know.
To address user control, Mosseri announced that Instagram will soon test a new feature. This feature will allow users to fine-tune the algorithm that recommends content on Reels. Initially focused on Reels, this control may later extend to other parts of the app. An early version shows that users will be able to toggle topics the app believes they are interested in. For example, if Instagram suggests content about college football, film photography, or chess based on your activity, you will have the option to remove a topic if you grow tired of it.
Instagram also plans to change the app’s navigation bar. The button for uploading new content will be replaced with a more direct link to your direct messages.
This growth occurs as Meta faces ongoing legal challenges regarding its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram. The trial has revealed internal emails that shed light on the tensions between Facebook and Instagram. The emails show that Instagram has become more culturally relevant than Facebook. While Meta benefits from Instagram’s success, Mark Zuckerberg has expressed concerns that Instagram’s rise may be contributing to Facebook’s decline in popularity. As Facebook becomes less popular with younger audiences, Meta has been strategizing for several years on how to make Facebook appealing again.