What Happened to Instagram's Following Tab?

by Arjun (AJ) Sharma

Anxiety. Depression. Stress.

Image Courtesy of Dazeddigital.com

These three emotions can profoundly impact a person’s life. According to various studies, social media has very negative effects on the brain. Some of these effects include depression, anxiety, and eating disorders. Instagram had a “following tab”; a feed that allows you to view your friends likes, comments and follows. This tab has negatively impacted users’ lives by allowing them to stalk their friends’ activity, producing anxiety and stress. Instagram recently tried to combat these negative effects by removing the following tab from its app. The public reaction was mixed - many people rebelled against this change, while others were ecstatic that their followers would no longer see see their activity.  Amidst this controversy, what is the real reason Instagram decided to remove the following tab? 

First of all, let’s dive into when this following tab emerged. Instagram added the following tab back in 2011, to help users discover new accounts and photos. However, now that Instagram has a discover page, the following tab has essentially become redundant. This redundancy could have influenced Instagram’s removal of the following tab - but let’s dig a little deeper.

Instagram Head of Product, Vishal Shah.
Image Courtesy of Vox.com

Another possible reason for removing this following tab was a general consensus that it was simply creepy. If someone is following you, they can find out the type of pictures you’re liking along with the accounts you have followed. If you had a public account, then any Instagram user could tell what you liked, commented, and recently followed, simply by checking the following tab. According to head of product, Vishal Shah, “People didn’t always know that their activity is surfacing. So you have a case where it’s not serving the use case you built it for, but it’s also causing people to be surprised when their activity is showing up." For these reasons, the seemingly innocuous following tab could have terrible effects on people’s personal lives. 

It is also possible that Instagram may be secretly attempting to remove features that are toxic to users’ mental health. These days social media has become filled with so much content that it is actually diminishing people’s brains slowly. Day by day, second by second, social media destroys brain cells by creating a system where a like can trigger the release of endorphins (euphoric hormones in our minds), creating an addictive system. This has been researched by various scientists and has been proven true. The following tab also had the potential to ruin close relationships. If a friend wasn’t responding to a text because they were “busy,” they could be outed by their activity seen on the following tab. In the case of romantic relationships, partners have been caught liking other girls’ or guys’ pictures, resulting in jealousy and trust issues. 

Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri
Image Courtesy of Vox.com

For this reason, removing the following tab could simply be a tactic to improve users’ peace of mind and to remove some anxiety from people’s lives. Even though Instagram has not yet made efforts to combat the vicious cycle of likes on pictures and the need for more followers, they have demonstrated they are trying to make their app healthier to use. According to the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, Instagram plans on running a test on removing the likes feature for certain users in the U.S. Only the owner of the page would be able to view their likes, whereas others would be unable to. The creators of Instagram said they are doing this to reduce competitive pressure associated with likes on the app. It creates a lot of unnecessary rivalry, especially amongst teens and young adults. Various celebrities have said removing the likes would promote better health and wellness. Since Instagram recently has been battling smartphone addiction and online health issues, removing the following tab is one step closer to successfully countering these very serious issues.

Any one of these reasons could have contributed to Instagram’s decision to remove it’s following tab. It wasn’t creating healthy relationships and was downright creepy. The following tab was yet another way to waste time on an app that already has endless scrolling and all types of content. Yes, Instagram connects people and creates bonds, but the following tab allowed it to harm these same bonds.  At the end of the day, Instagram is meant to be a platform to share your pictures on and to browse through the content that millions of people create through their feeds.