What’s the deal with Instagram “Highlights”?
It looks like the trendy, up-and-coming social network is going through some sort of a mid-life crisis. Although Instagram is only 4 years old and has over 300 million active members and a minimum of 70 million photos uploaded per day, the lovable photo-sharing social network is fighting to keep its sturdy position in the market by coming after its less interactive users by invading their inboxes with “Highlights” emails since the popularity of the platform relies basically on the number of views and interactions.
Similarly to the “best of” Twitter emails, Instagram “Highlights” sends its inactive users emails of the best of their feeds to keep them engaged and revive their activity on the website. So if you have been minding your own business lately and haven’t been keeping track of your friends’ photo and video sharing activities on Instagram, Highlights will bring it all to you regularly to your mail. According to a report by TechCrunch:
“After spotting Highlights, Instagram confirmed to me that this is the first time it’s sent any type of promotional or re-engagement email. It’s so fresh there’s not even a setting to control it. When I tried hitting Unsubscribe to see where it took me, I discovered there was no email settings menu and no way to re-subscribe.”
On the other side, Instagram “Highlights” is also a handy feature for users who have a fat list of people they follow and can’t go through their never-ending feeds as it will provide them with highlights on what’s been going on and will also save them the trouble of scrolling through hundreds of pictures.
“The highlights are ultimately meant to get users viewing more ads and with more active subscribers, the photo-sharing service can generate more clicks on ad impressions which eventually lead to more revenue,” Phone Arena noted.
Another reason besides attempting to win back its users – although a lot of Instagram users are unhappy about this feature – Instagram is trying to expand its lens and maintain a solid global presence and keep its photos more contained within its walls and less on Twitter’s.
“Instagram’s strategy for that has been to avoid letting photos slip outside its walls. It decided not to let Twitter render its photos in-line so people would have to use Instagram. But now its reaching out, hoping to meet users half way. Highlights could remind people what they’re missing when they don’t open Instagram,” TechCrunch reported.
So don’t be surprised if you get promotional newsletters from Instagram soon in your inbox and if you’re not so hot for the new Instagram “Highlights” emails, keep an eye for an “unsubscribe” button.
