Instagram choosing to penalise videos with the TikTok watermark is a really interesting example of their overconfidence. Between that and their largely decried redesign of the app to prioritise e-commerce, it's clear they're not especially concerned with user experience.

For whatever reason, they seem sure that people on the app are hooked, and won't find alternatives, but as Myspace, Bebo, and even Facebook can attest, most users are more than happy to abandon a platform that no longer works in their best interests.

Facebook of course being the most pertinent example, being both the parent company, and an app that is trying to be all things to all people and as a result is largely alienating the millennial demographic.

When Insta first launched Stories, I wrote an article suggesting that it could be a bad move for the app. That it distracted from Instagram's core appeal (perfectly curated feeds) and could push users off. https://www.lbbonline.com/news/instagram-stories-a-happily-ever-after

Luckily for me, I hedged my bets enough that I'm not disastrously wrong; I conceded that it would likely lead to more regular posting and that has indeed happened, but I think my larger point, that it would see IG slip further away from its core offering could still wind up true.

They're currently trying to beat TikTok at its own game, and doing so with their hands tied behind their backs. Not only is organic reach near impossible on IG, but TikTok is actively designed to frontload discovery and as a result new users are gaining early success on the app

As a result, they're loyal to the platform and that loyalty will likely keep them there. All of this is to say that IG might struggle to beat TikTok the way it did SnapChat, especially as they continue to annoy their core users. Curious to see how this one will go.

This is very much at the heart of my criticism. It's a company so blinded by its own hubris that it fails to see that it's only as good as its users, and could lose them if it continues to make their experience harder. https://mobile.twitter.com/LaurenWalshArt/status/1359843346278215681

Now, I'm conscious that there will be users who have such a huge following on Instagram that they're unlikely to leave anytime soon, and that from IG's perspective, fewer users they can monetise more easily is probably fine, but they are definitely playing with fire here.

You can only push users so far when there are constantly competitors appearing who are actively learning from your mistakes and centreing the user in their platform