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Students share thoughts on recent social media updates

Santiago Gaughan/The Cougar

Santiago Gaughan/The Cougar

Social media apps such as Instagram and Twitter have released recent updates that students say they do not enjoy as much as the old versions.

For Instagram, the layout of the application has updated to focus more on the feature of Reels and the shopping portion, relocating buttons such as how to post and how to access the notifications.

For Twitter, there was a recent addition of a story feature that is being called a Fleet, which does not get any retweets, likes or replies like other parts of the app.

“Instagram isn’t the app that comes to mind when I want to do online shopping,” said environmental science sophomore Joaquin Gonzalez.

Gonzalez, not being an online shopper himself, said the addition to the app feels unnecessary and that it will not be used, at least for himself.

Many other Instagram users have spoken out on the dislike for the new arrangements in the app, including the mention of the Reels feature being very similar to the competing app TikTok.

This update was the first time in years Instagram updated the format of the home page, and it came with the introduction of Reels about a month ago.

Twitter has transformed in regards to the retweet and quote tweet options, but tweets on the app still appear in chronological order, unlike Instagram.

Twitter has not yet taken the step of creating a shopping function in it’s updates, besides any shops that may have that focus on their account and trends.

Instagram took it’s first step into e-commerce by adding the shopping tab back in 2016. Then it started on the explore page, but with this new update, the priority has been moved to a more trafficked part of the app layout.

This is not a popular change for students like English and French junior Alexis Arteaga, who dislikes the prominence of Instagram shopping.

“The Instagram update is a marketing and capitalistic tactic,” Arteaga said. “It instigates consumerism.”

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