tech2 News StaffDec 28, 2018 08:41:15 IST
Instagram users woke up to a surprising change to the app's layout on Thursday – with the familiar vertical scroll of its feed changed abruptly sideways – literally so.
The instinctive slide of the finger upwards did very little to move from one post to the next, as users had to instead swipe between them like some dating apps we've grown familiar with.
Why, Instagram?
Oof that constantly-shifting bar at the top is not pairing well with my OCD tendencies. #instagram pic.twitter.com/mAlsyxo9Mm
— Claire Foyant (@wordswithsam) December 27, 2018
That seemed to be the resonant response from users, who took to Twitter and Instagram to express their disdain.
“what do you think of the new #instagram update?”
me: pic.twitter.com/CUYY027309
— nat | @flirtsjeon on ig (@flirtsjeonn) December 27, 2018
What are you doing Instagram?!? https://t.co/HEXR7ZActW #Instagramupdate
— Mashable (@mashable) December 27, 2018
View this post on Instagram
@zuck THE PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW IF WE’RE BEING PUNISHED FOR NOT WATCHING IG TV (@drgrayfang) A post shared by thefatjewish (@thefatjewish) on
me after trying to swipe through the #instagramupdate #newinstagram pic.twitter.com/jH0sbhyTiZ — Mr. Wavy Boy (@bangbwavy) December 27, 2018
The change wasn't rolled out to all users, though and seems to have largely reached North America based on online reactions. Suffice it to say it reached (and bugged) enough people for Instagram to release an official statement, attributing the whole episode to a "bug".
Due to a bug, some users saw a change to the way their feed appears today. We quickly fixed the issue and feed is back to normal. We apologize for any confusion.
— Instagram (@instagram) December 27, 2018
Following their statement, Instagram was shown a hypothetical box of sand to bury its head under in another flood of responses that pointed out the feature was far too well-designed, functional and instructive to be a bug. The new Instagram chief Adam Mosseri was quick to jump in and clarify that the change was a test on a small number of users to see how the change would be received, and reached a lot more people that they expected it to.
Sorry about that, this was supposed to be a very small test but we went broader than we anticipated. 😬 — Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) December 27, 2018
Looks like you got your answer, Adam.
We've swiped left.
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