Mediaboss Marketing

Gen Z is totally over Instagrams identity crisis.

Earlier this summer, the social media platforms head honcho, Adam Mosseri, abruptly announced Instagram was no longer a square photo sharing app and would instead be focusing on video. The pivot widely interpreted to be an effort to keep up with TikTok drew criticism from prominent influencers, most notably Kylie Jenner. Now, it seems Instagram is looking to imitate another buzzy platform BeReal, the social media app that has users take and share relatively authentic snapshots at a specific time each day. Meta what Facebook changed its name to in a questionable rebranding attempt in light of becoming universally reviled for its past actions as Instagrams parent company, confirmed to Fortune last week that the app is internally testing a new prototype called Candid Challenge. The feature is designed to capture a photo using your front and back cameras at the same time each day. It sounds eerily familiar, and the Zoomers arent having it.

Instagram needs to stay in its own lane, Cameron Martin, 23, a community manager from Los Angeles told The Post.

BeReal was initially launched in 2020 by French GoPro employee Alexis Barreyat, and its really taken off with Gen Z in recent months. Its currently the #1 social networking site on the App Store with more than 20 million downloads. Instagram engagement, meanwhile, has decreased about 44% since 2019, a recent study conducted by Later found.

Alessandro Paluzzi, a high-profile leaker, first revealed the news of the Candid Camera prototype on Twitter last Monday, sending social media users into a frenzy. Many expressed annoyance and accused Instagram of copying a competitor.

This isnt Candid, its plandid, one Twitter user commented.

Many just seem to wish Instagram could be what it once was.

Instagram is trying to do too much and keeps copying other apps and its taking away from using the app as a place to share photos and memories, said Lizzie Belcher, a 23-year-old research associate from Boston.

Others have already made the switch to BeReal and love it and dont seem keen on supporting Instagrams latest attempt to knock-off competitors.

[Ive] been able to curate a small group of friends [that I want to see] on a day-to-day basis, Blake Johnson, a 24-year-old creative marketing project specialist Brooklynite, told The Post. Instagram doesnt have that same sort of community or closeness.

But, those lamenting what Instagram is or isnt or will or wont be may be missing the point, according to some tech world insiders.

Ben Thompson, a business analyst beloved by Silicon Valley, recently noted that Instagram has always had an ever-changing identity. When it started out, it wasnt a social media platform it was an app for adding filters to photos. Constantly mutating may be its ultimate purpose.

Changing Instagram is the most Instagram-like behavior possible, he wrote in a recent blog post.

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Instagram is trying to BeReal but Gen Z is not on board - New York Post