Chrissy Teigen called Instagram out for its latest updates and got into a debate about the topic with Adam Mosseri, the head of the app.
The 36-year-old model lamented how Instagram has become more video centred in conversation with Mosseri on Twitter and said she wants to use the app to post photos.
“We don’t wanna make videos Adam, lol,” she said.
Her comments came in response to Mosseri’s video on Tuesday about the “concerns” that Instagram users are having with the app’s “changes.” In the wake of the company pivoting to focus on short videos over photos, there’s been an onslaught of backlash from users. Mosseri responded to those complaints by insisting that, despite opposition, the app will continue to become more video-focused over time.
On Twitter, Mosseri replied to the Lip Sync Battle host’s remarks and noted how he wanted Instagram to be catered to the type of content, whether its videos or photos, that users want to see.
“If you don’t want to make videos, it’s better not to,” he wrote. “What I want is an Instagram that is about photos [for those] who prefer photos, and is about video for those who prefer that format.”
Teigen then said she doesn’t enjoy “making videos” before explaining how she just wants to see her friend’s posts on her Instagram feed.
“I guess for me it’s not just that I suck at making videos,” she continued. “It’s that I don’t see my actual friend’s posts and they don’t see mine, and I see the same people over and over and over [and’ then the feed goes ‘you’re all caught up!’”
Mosseri then claimed that some Instagram users tend to use direct messages and stories, more often than actually sharing a post. He also recommended a way in which Teign can ensure that she’ll “never miss a feed post from a friend”.
“Friends post a lot more to stories and send a lot more DMs than they post to Feed,” he wrote. “If you want to make sure you never miss a feed post from a friend, add them to your favourites and they’ll show up at the top.”
He also added: “To be clear though, we try and show photos and videos from your friends at the top of Feed whenever we can.”
Teigen shared that, in her experience, people only use Instagram Stories when they are getting “no engagement,” such as likes or comments, on their posts.
“The only people I know that post a lot to [their] stories are the ones that know their photos get no engagement any longer so they are doing the thing they find second best,” she continued. “If photos got the engagement they wanted, they wouldn’t do so many (mostly uneventful) stories.”
Mosseri and Teigen’s conversation ended there, as the Instagram head told her that her thoughts were “very fair”.
In his initial video on Twitter, Mosseri explained that as Instagram has been “experimenting with a number of different changes to the app,” they have been “hearing a lot of concerns from” social media users.
Regarding Instagram users’ disappointment about the app prioritising videos over photos, Mosseri said that Instagram was “going to continue to support photos”. Mosseri’s video also arrived on the heels of both Kylie Jenner and Kim Kardashian resharing a post on Instagram to show their support to a viral campaign, “Make Instagram Instagram again.”
The campaign, which is primarily a result of Instagram creating a reels section of short videos, encouraged the app to “stop trying to be TikTok”. The post also expressed how people “just want to see cute photos of [their] friends” in their Instagram feeds.
