Instagram has announced that it is making changes to its hashtag pages to make them more relevant to users. Instagram is one of the largest social media networks globally, with around two billion total users and one billion monthly active users, as of Dec. 2021. Owned by Meta (formerly Facebook), Instagram started as a simple photo-sharing app almost a decade ago but has since developed into a full-fledged social media platform that counts the biggest celebrities in the world among its userbase.
However, for all its popularity, it has also been under severe scrutiny over the years. The app has often faced criticism for making body image issues worse for teens and young women and for not doing enough to end the flourishing marketplace for illegal drugs on the platform. There have also been allegations that content related to suicide and self-harm flourish on the platform unabated. A new report from a child rights group also recently claimed that the app was pushing pro-anorexia and eating disorder-related content to millions of users, including kids as young as nine.
Instagram has announced that it is testing a redesigned hashtag search page without the 'Recent' tab. The 'Top' and 'Reels' tabs are not only being retained, but Instagram says it is testing "more recent and timely content" in these two tabs. This suggests that the company is fine-tuning its algorithm for these tabs to show fresh and trending content to offset the removal of the Recent tab to some degree. Instagram also said that the test will help it ascertain whether the changes would help users find more "interesting and relevant content on hashtags."
Instagram's Renewed Focus On Hashtags
The removal of the Recent tab means that users will no longer be able to get chronological results for the hashtag searches, which could be frustrating for some users. It is worth noting, however, that the new hashtags page is currently under testing, so very few people are seeing the dual-tab page for now. While most users still have access to the triple-tab page, that might change soon as Instagram will likely expand the test to include more people if it gets a positive response.
The latest changes come a few weeks after Instagram brought back the chronological feed and are part of the company's renewed obsession with hashtags. Late last month, Instagram rolled out another pilot program to help users find, support and fundraise for social causes using hashtags. The feature is available for a handful of well-known movements, including #BlackLivesMatter, #womensrights and #climatecrisis, with support for more causes possibly on the way soon. However, while that was a praiseworthy effort, the latest test is likely to come in for some scrutiny from users.
Source: Instagram/Twitter