Instagram testing a new profile design with focus on users instead of follower count
In yet another Instagram update under test, the social networking site is now trying out a feature which will put the focus on you, the user, rather than your follower count.
In the latest post on the Instagram Press blog, the Facebook-owned company has said that it would be trying out a redesign of your profile page. The redesign would include re-arranging your profile details including changed icons, buttons and the way you navigate between tabs. The idea is to make profiles a lot cleaner and easier to navigate. There will be no change, however, to your photo grid.
The idea of making these changes to the profile is to help you connect easily with your followers. In one of the screenshots shared on the page, we see 3×2 deck of buttons with Follow, Message, Call, Email, Direction, Start Order for what looks like an Instagram business account. Just above the photo grid, you can also notice tabs for Grid, Posts, IGTV, Tagged and so on. The layout would have a few more business related things for Instagram business accounts. Yes, IGTV will get a prominent position atop your grid it seems.
“We’ve been working on these changes and will test them in phases and different combinations with our community over the next several weeks. We’ll continue to experiment and update the experience as we learn from your feedback,” said Instagram in its post.
The emphasis on follower count has also been toned down and it no longer appears top most besides your profile photo. This seems to be in line with the overall industry sentiment to focus not on the number of followers, but have engagement on the platform as an important metric. Under the following tab, you will also be able to see mutual followers if you tap on the Following tab of any user.
Just yesterday, there was a news report out that Instagram would be purging inauthentic likes, follows and comments from accounts that used third-party apps to boost their popularity. The company said that it has built Machine Learning (ML) tool to help spot accounts that used automated apps to generate likes and follows from fake users to produce a fake impression that they were enjoying more attention than they actually did.
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