If you’re an Instagram user, maybe you have noticed it too, the green dot that shows next to the profile pic of people on your list. Instagram clarifies that “You will only see status for friends who follow you or people who you have talked to in Direct,” so it encourages dm’ing people that you’ve already talked to before and also suggests new people that you can direct message (DM) with.
You can deactivate this feature in the “Activity Status” in the app’s Settings, the status is on by default.
By adding these features, Instagram begins to look a lot like the other social media platform, Facebook. We could call it “The Facebookification” of Instagram.
The dot status may not seem like too much of a change. These changes are often so subtle that are barely noticeable. Well, that is especially if you’re not exactly a compulsive user of social media.
Earlier, another feature that was introduced by Instagram is showing how many minutes ago someone in your DM list was active. This information is displayed as a grey status text, “Active 2 hrs ago” or “Active Now”. This feature looks exactly like Facebook Messenger.
This subtle changes are meant to turning Instagram into Facebook-like application where, the accent is put on sharing experiences in the now, rather than taking your time, making memories and than “latergramming”.
Most users, the ones who prefer the old calm and peaceful Instagram, are not very happy with the changes. For example, a demand was made to the company to return to the old chronological feed, but we all know how that ended. The Facebookification of Instagram is marching on. They are now working on an in-app time management, that is meant to reduce the attentional toll of these new features.
It’s not like users are thrilled about knowing when a person is “active” or “online”. Mostly, the changes are meant to create a compulsive behavior, for users to keep using the app as much as possible. It’s a shame that Instagram is following down on Facebook path.
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