INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Instagram is removing its Following tab, a feature that became better known as a stalking tool than one to aid with new account discovery,
as the company had intended
Today, Instagram says that its Explore tab is the go-to place to find new people, places and hashtags to follow
Meanwhile, the Following tab is now only used by a small number of people on a regular basis.
Combined, those factors were the key reasons
behind its shutdown, we understand.
But the Following tab wasn''t just unhelpful and therefore ignored by Instagram users — a number of
people forgot, or never even knew, it existed in the first place
There are numerous stories of people illicit or private activities being outed because of what they were liking and following on
Instagram.
The tab was fairly notorious for the transparency it brought to our online lives
It was often a place where µ-cheating& activity was caught, for example.That is, it could reveal when a person in a committed
relationship was spending just a little too much time liking someone else posts, engaging with an ex content or networking with series of
potential &backup partners& on a regular basis.
It also could easily reveal when someone main use case for Instagram was to like and
follow IG &models& — something that didn''t seem like the kind of activity most would want to be offered in a trackable format
(And information that was particularly awkward to see when the person in question was not a close friend, but rather a work colleague of
some sort.)
The tab was known to have impacted or even ended friendships, too — like in the case where someone wouldn''t respond to their
friend texts, or claim they were &busy.& Meanwhile, they were consistently active on Instagram, and very obviously lying.
Gossip followers
also liked the tab, as it would reveal who celebs were following — sometimes an indication of a new relationship, either personal or
professional in nature.
Overall, the tab generally became known as a creepy tool, and not one that offered any significant benefit to users
in terms of being a legitimate discovery mechanism.
Though Instagram is only announcing this change today, many users had already lost
Back in August, for example, a big thread on Reddit saw users complaining their Following tab had disappeared
They assumed it was a bug, however.
After the tab removal, you&ll only see your own activity, as before, when you click the Heart
button.
The company says the Following tab is being removed starting today, but it will take the rest of the week for the rollout to
