Instagram testing new profile layout that puts the focus on users instead of follower count

Instagram today announced that it is testing out new designs for user profiles. In a post on their press site, the photo-sharing social media site wrote “Over the next several weeks, you may see features re-arranged at the top of your profile including changes to icons, buttons and the way you navigate between tabs.” They also reassured users that “The photos and videos you’ve shared on your grid won’t change.”

In the post, the company put up an image indicating the potential changes. Right off the bat, the follower count stats aren’t as big as they used to be, indicating that the focus of the redesign is to lower the emphasis on follower count. This follows Instagram’s latest step in fighting the “bot follower” plague that has been rampant across the platform. Everyone from a nobody to celebrities had apparently used services to inflate their follower count, a violation of the platform’s terms of service.

The new redesign shuffles a few things around, such as the follow and message buttons. Currently, when you go to the profile of someone you don’t follow, you see three elements take up the most space; followers, following and the 'Follow' button. The new redesign reduces the real-estate offered to the follower stats and uses the freed-up space to emphasize the “Follow” and “Message” buttons. For business profiles, the top one-third of the profile page will see the addition of relevant call to action buttons which should help the business interact with their customers with greater ease, and vice versa.

Instagram’s post on their news portal says that the company is testing various design options based on user feedback and will be rolling something out over the coming weeks. 

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