Instagram’s Following tab was the platform’s most cursed feature – do not @ me. From lurking on which thirst traps your ex is liking, to getting caught out newly following someone your best pal hates, it was pure evil. Now, in news welcomed by everyone, it turns out the feature is being axed this week.
Introduced in 2011, the Following tab allows you to see the likes, comments, and follows of all your IG friends. Launched long before the Explore page, the tab was the original place to discover new content on the app, but has since been utilised as a very effective – and creepy – stalking method.
When discussing the reason behind the change, Instagram’s head of product Vishal Shah told BuzzFeed News that “simplicity was the driving factor”. According to Shah, “people didn’t always know that their activity was surfacing” meaning they’d get a nasty shock if confronted about their late night likes. He also said the feature’s demise stemmed from the fact it wasn’t used enough.
The announcement follows a string of updates from Instagram in recent months, including trialling the removal of like counts, launching an anti-bullying feature and a tool to report fake news, and dropping a new ‘intimate’ messaging app called Threads. Clearly concerned about ending up irrelevant like its parent company Facebook – IG’s original founders left the app last year, reportedly over disputes that the app was being ‘Facebookified’ – it seems the platform is determined to mix things up to retain user interest.
Anyway, good riddance to the Following tab – your mental health will be grateful even if you aren’t right now.