Instagram accidentally launched swipe feed for few

Instagram launched swipe feed to a large number of users yesterday that was meant to be a test for few or a bug in the system. Though the platform revoked the feature soon, netizens freaked out on the design.

Instagram is testing a horizontal feed, a shift from the current vertical scrolling down feed experience. This change in the user experience ignited a fire amongst the users who witnessed the change for a brief time.

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Why o why @instagram !? ?? Do you really need to copy Tinder and come up with swipe feature? #instagram #instagramupdate #swipe #swipeleft #newfeature #tinder

A post shared by Malhar Barai (@malharbarai) on Dec 27, 2018 at 9:07am PST

Social media consultant, Matt Navarra ran a poll on his Twitter account asking the audience if they loved or hated the feed change. The results clearly show the disapproval of the feature, if it will be launched in future.

Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram also replied to his tweet "That was supposed to be a very small test that went broad by accident. Should be fixed now. If you're still seeing it simply restart the app. Happy holidays!"

“Due to a bug, some users saw a change to the way their feed appears today. We quickly fixed the issue and feed is back to normal. We apologize for any confusion,” a spokesperson said to Recode.

Due to a bug, some users saw a change to the way their feed appears today. We quickly fixed the issue and feed is back to normal. We apologize for any confusion.

— Instagram (@instagram) December 27, 2018

With all the updates available since October, it does not look like the feature was rolled out as a bug. Though the noise around the update indicates that the platform is going to have a tough time if they roll out the feature for everyone, only a handful of Instagram users had the first-hand experience of the feed shift.

The 15 mins of feature launch can be a dipstick test to understand the acceptability quotient of the feature.

We have seen with Snapchat and Twitter that UI changes on the platform do not always go well with the audience leading to extreme consequences affecting business and usage. Will this be a beginning for the downfall of Instagram?