Instagram stops iconic square photos – users are angry

Instagram has been making a lot of changes since the takeover of Facebook. Now, however, the social media platform seems to be going way too far: Instagram’s square photos seem to be making way for vertical longer photos. Read more in this article.

Square photos Instagram changed social media

Instagram seems to be overtaken by apps like TikTok and has to change. Previously, the platform was already working on a full-screen design. The parent company Meta now reports that major changes will be made to the app. The latest update removes one of Instagram’s most iconic features: the square photos.

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri explained in a video on Twitter shows that a lot is going to change on the popular social media platform of Meta. Photos are no longer square, but full screen. So, just like all videos and photos in Reels and Stories (and YouTube Shorts and TikTok), they will have a 9:16 ratio. So it seems more and more that vertical content is taking over the internet.

Vertical photos are taking over social media

Fortunately, this new format is still in the testing phase and is only visible to a part of the users. However, those who have to test this interface are anything but positive.

Somehow it makes sense, the literal tilt of content. We always hold our iPhones vertically anyway and it often takes a lot of effort to rotate the phone 90 degrees for a video. Then why don’t the videos change? So a clear advantage.

Disadvantage of deleting square photos

A disadvantage is that generally less fits on the image. Imagine you are watching a football match. You then have a much better view of the match if you film horizontally. Our lives are somewhat more horizontal rather than vertical. For example, traffic moves horizontally. So it is not very illogical that we are used to looking left and right, instead of up and down.

It Vertical Video Syndrome (VVS) has had a lot of online contradiction for some time now. When people film or photograph vertically and then post it to a site that publishes it horizontally, you hardly see the video. The users will then see thick black bars on both sides. People have already expressed a lot of hate against this online.

This mindset has dominated the heavy users of the Internet for decades. Hence, there is also a lot of resistance to this possible removal of the square photos from Instagram.

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