Yeah, I’m not sure that this will be the win that IG hopes.
As some users have noticed in the app, Instagram is currently testing out an update to the profile display, which would change your “Following” count to “Friends” instead, the people who mutually follow you in the app.
As you can see in this example, posted by app researcher Radu Oncescu (back in November), the “Following” count has been switched to “Friends” instead, showing how many people you have a reciprocal content relationship with in the app.
Instagram has confirmed the live test to Business Insider, saying that it’s currently a small-scale experiment to see how people respond to highlighting friend connections.
As per IG:
"Friends are central to the Instagram experience, so we're exploring ways to make these connections more visible and meaningful."
And that’s definitely true of the modern IG experience. As Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has repeatedly noted, most of the interaction in the app now happens in DMs, with few people posting to the main feed. As such, sharing with your connections is clearly more important than amplifying your interests and tastes in public, and as such, mutual follows could be a more representative indicator of your engagement.
Though it may not be a better external indicator to include on user profiles.
It all depends on how people use these numbers. Some people will tap through on your “Following” list to find related profiles that they also might want to follow, so as a discovery surface, this could be a valuable feature. Switching to mutual follows would lessen that, as it could be friends, family members, etc., which are less aligned with that profile’s topical interest.
Though the same could be said for the “Following” feed in most cases, but I would think that there would be some particularly popular profiles within these lists that have an influence over the broader information flow for each niche, that don’t follow people back, for whatever reason.
And as Business Insider notes, it would also change the dynamic around follower/following ratios, and what that means for perceived popularity and relevance.
Having more followers than people you follow back makes you look like an influential voice, and that’s based on this display highlighting that variance in-stream. Without it, maybe people would focus on mutual follows instead, though that feels like a less valuable indicator of notoriety, as it’s just who you like, and who likes you back.
But maybe, if you had 500 followers, and 400 of them were friends, that would be the new ratio? Then it’s not just about popularity, but community relevance, and that could be a healthier metric?
I don’t know, but I’m not sure that it would have a major impact either way, and I do think that “Following” serves a more valuable discovery purpose.
But again, IG is changing, and the reasons why people use it are also evolving over time. Maybe this is reflective of that shift.
