Instagram founder shares his views on the app: Here’s what he said

Instagram has come a long way from being just a photo-sharing app. At the time of its launch back in 2010, the app was a place where people could share snippets from their daily lives with their friends and family. Today, it’s a platform where people share photos, videos and reels, discover new interests and companies and creators showcase and sell their products. Over the years, Instagram has gone from being an app where people could connect with each other in form of visuals, to first being a Snapchat clone and now being a TikTok competitor. The change in the way people use Instagram and what the platform offers has been drastic, in the past couple of years, to say the least. And it hasn’t gone unnoticed by Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, who believes that the platform has lost its soul, and perhaps its purpose. Also Read: Instagram Launches Limited-Edition Diwali Filters: Here’s How To Use Them

In a podcast interview with Kara Swisher, Instagram co-founder shared his thoughts on Instagram as it is today. He also shared what his biggest regret was regarding the app that he helped develop. Also Read: Meta AI Adds UPI Lite, Hindi Support, and Deepika Padukone’s Voice to Ray-Ban Glasses in India

“I think we’ve lost the soul of what made Instagram Instagram,” Systrom said in an interview with Swisher. Also Read: Meta Wants Employees To Build The Metaverse 5X Faster Using AI

During the podcast interview, Systrom said that earlier he used to visit Instagram to see what his friends and family were doing. But over the years, the app as turned into a platform that brands and creators and brands can use to make money. “My biggest regret, I think, at Instagram is how commercial it got,” he said.

“Life is really hard, and whatever people post on Instagram is the tip of the iceberg…It’s this race to the bottom of who can be the most perfect,” he added.

He also said that he has friends who used to upload pictures of their daily lives earlier, but now they just post “#ads.”

“That, to me, is not the Instagram we started,” Systrom said.

It is worth noting that Instagram founder Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger left Meta, which owns Instagram, in 2018. “We’re planning on leaving Instagram to explore our curiosity and creativity again. Building new things requires that we step back, understand what inspires us and match that with what the world needs; that’s what we plan to do,” they had shared at the time.

Months later, the Instagram co-founder in an interview with Wired said, “No one ever leaves a job because everything’s awesome, right? Work’s hard.”