Instagram has announced the death of arguably its most controversial tool – the following activity feature, which allowed the Nancy Drews of social media to keep tabs on whose accounts others had followed, liked and commented on. May you rest in hell, soft-stalking.
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Instagram’s head of product Vishal Shah told BuzzFeed News that the decision to erase the feature stemmed from the fact that a lot of us hadn’t been using it.
“People didn’t always know that their activity is surfacing,” Shah explained. “So you have a case where it’s not serving the use case you built it for, but it’s also causing people to be surprised when their activity is showing up.”
I personally never used the following tab – I actually forgot it existed, to be honest – but I knew quite a lot of people who frequented it religiously and, my God, it just sounded like a panic attack in the making. I liken the following tab to that of stalking your ex’s profile – more often than not, you’re going to come across something you didn’t want to see and leave feeling even more dissatisfied.
According to Business Insider, some Instagram users noted that their following tabs had disappeared during a trial period last month.
The general rollout is expected to come into fruition alongside the new update in the coming days so, if you’re looking to gather thirsty receipts, incriminating tea and powerful blackmail, now’s the time to stock up.
Source: BuzzFeed News