Instagram looks different? Welcome to the murky world of 'dark patterns'
Widespread criticism from Instagram users of the latest version of the app raises the question: Why did they change it? One answer is for the image and video sharing app to be more like its main rival, TikTok, which has grown its user base more rapidly. TikTok is purely video, so Instagram is heading there too. “We’ve been trying to make Instagram better through video,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a video last week. But the TikTok competition and the pivot to video still don’t account for all the changes. Why is it so hard to mute videos now? Why is it no longer possible to quickly and smoothly scroll through your feed? The answers to these questions lie in behavioral economics, app design, and the bleak world of “dark patterns”. Instagram says users want to watch more videos, although some say otherwise. What is a dark pattern? Dark patterns are all ways websites, apps, and other user interfaces are designed to intentionally obscure, mislead, coerce, and/or trick website visi