2023 Instagram News and Updates

A new year means new social media platform updates. Instagram is anticipating quite a few updates in the coming months, as well as venturing into new avenues. From expanding recent updates to launching an entirely new application, Instagram is ready to spread its wings in 2023.?

New Content Application in the Works?

One of the biggest updates we have is the creation of a new social app, from the creators of Instagram, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. The app is said to be called, “Artifact,” which the team came to based on the following words: article, facts, and artificial intelligence.??

In direct contrast to Instagram, Artifact will be a content-focused application, not a social-focused one. When you open the application, you will see the main feed filled with popular articles. These articles will have been curated from a list of publishers ranging from the New York Times and smaller-scale blogs. If you tap on the articles that are of interest to you, the algorithm will learn what you like and recommend similar posts in the future, just like TikTok’s algorithm will videos on the For You Page for each individual user.?

This new app will use indicators within it to better curate a user’s feed based on their interests, just like TikTok does with users’ For You Pages. Furthermore, Artifact will be selective when it comes to publishing content to avoid any misinformation being spread across the platform. While this ensures that only accurate information is circulated, it could also be seen as censorship by members of the public.?

The timing of the app launch may correlate with Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover and plummeting of the social media app. Artifact’s systems will be primarily optimized for content read time, as opposed to what generates the most clicks and comments, which correlates with the content-focused nature of the platform.??

Instagram Inbox Notes Expansion?

Moving onto New Instagram updates, one of the main ones which can already be utilized. Some users around the world have access already, Instagram is simply expanding that access to users in Japan and Europe. The Instagram Inbox is becoming more commonly used than the Instagram Feed by many users. This has motivated developers to create Inbox Notes, which users can access through Inbox within the Instagram app.?

Instagram Inbox Notes are 60 characters long and appear at the top of the Inbox for 24 hours. People you are connected to can both see and reply to your Inbox Notes, which is a way to boost engagement and conversation among users. Instagram is pushing this feature since it found out that many users are interacting more with Messages than posting to their feeds. Inbox Notes allows them to capitalize on this trend.??

Meta Posts and Revenue Updates?

Instagram is closely tied to Facebook, as it is all under one umbrella company, Meta. Over Q4 of 2022, FB monthly active users increased to about 2.96 billion. This has a lot to do with the influx of Reels posted and interacted with on Facebook during that time. Mark Zuckerberg attributes this to Meta’s evolving AI (Artificial Intelligence) recommendation systems.??

As far as Meta’s revenue goes, it is currently steady. However, it is lower than what was recorded in Q4 of 2021. This revenue loss is causing a delay in the launch of Meta’s AR (Augmented Reality) feature. This is still costing the company a lot of money.??

In fact, Meta’s Reality Labs unit reported an operating loss of about $4.28 billion for the quarter. This brings the total loss for 2022 to $13.72 billion. By stalling the release of this feature, the hope is to limit operational loss in 2023.?

Blue Check Subscription Possibilities?

Since Elon Musk has taken over Twitter, there have been numerous changes to the platform. One of them is the option for Twitter users to pay for the Blue Verification Check that appears on verified profiles. This may motivate Meta to offer the same sort of subscription to Facebook and Instagram users, even though the feature has not been super popular on Twitter.?

The purpose of the verification check was always to show platform users that they can trust those profiles are legitimate. This purpose goes away with the subscription option. If provided for Meta users, it would be available on both Instagram and Facebook.???

While it has not been incredibly popular among Twitter users, it has proven to be lucrative for the platform, nevertheless. In fact, Twitter is bringing in $7 million in revenue each quarter with this subscription service, making it more profitable than many thought it would be.?

Meta has not yet confirmed this addition, but it is still a possibility, so keep an eye out for this subscription service on Meta’s platforms.??

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