Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Social Media
  3. News

Instagram ditches Following tab, disappointing online stalkers everywhere

By

Spying on what your friends do on Instagram is about to get a bit tougher. Beginning Monday, October 7, Instagram is removing the following Tab that serves as a detailed list of the likes and comments friends make on photos that aren’t your own. Parent company Facebook said that the Following tab is getting the ax as one of the features that “may be no longer useful for our community.” Just how useful the tab was is debatable, however.

The following tab is the second section in the Instagram notifications, along with the “You” tab that details the new likes, comments, and follows on your own account. The “Following” tab instead shares what the users you follow are doing on Instagram, from likes on a photo to comments and who they added to their follower list.

Recommended Videos

In theory, the tool could help users find new accounts to follow by seeing what the users they already follow interact with on the platform. Removing the tool, however, could likely be part of the company’s move toward a move private platform, since some users don’t even realize how easily accessible every like and comment they make is. Because the heart section defaults to the You tab, the Following tab is more hidden.

Instagram Head of Product Vishal Shah told BuzzFeed News that users don’t always realize that their likes and comments show up there. Digital Trends’ staff know more than a few couples who got into spats over the evidence in the Following tab since it’s easy to see just how many saucy photos your friends are interacting with.

“We’re always working to make Instagram the best space to connect with the people and things you love,” a Facebook spokesperson told Digital Trends. “While this includes introducing new features, it also means removing old ones that may no longer be useful for our community. Starting today, we will begin removing the ‘Following’ tab, which was previously accessible by pressing the heart icon and selecting ‘Following.’”

Besides the questionable privacy of the feature, the Following tab is now redundant with Instagram’s Explore tab. The Explore tab is designed to help users find new users to follow, without the creepiness of following your friends every like and comment.

Without the Following tab, the You tab will be renamed to “Activity.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Hillary K. Grigonis
Hillary K. Grigonis
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Hillary never planned on becoming a photographer—and then she was handed a camera at her first writing job and she's been…
Bluesky barrels toward 1 million new sign-ups in a day
Bluesky social media app logo.

Social media app Bluesky has picked nearly a million new users just a day after exiting its invitation-only beta and opening to everyone.

In a post on its main rival -- X (formerly Twitter) -- Bluesky shared a chart showing a sudden boost in usage on the app, which can now be downloaded for free for iPhone and Android devices.

Read more
How to make a GIF from a YouTube video
woman sitting and using laptop

Sometimes, whether you're chatting with friends or posting on social media, words just aren't enough -- you need a GIF to fully convey your feelings. If there's a moment from a YouTube video that you want to snip into a GIF, the good news is that you don't need complex software to so it. There are now a bunch of ways to make a GIF from a YouTube video right in your browser.

If you want to use desktop software like Photoshop to make a GIF, then you'll need to download the YouTube video first before you can start making a GIF. However, if you don't want to go through that bother then there are several ways you can make a GIF right in your browser, without the need to download anything. That's ideal if you're working with a low-specced laptop or on a phone, as all the processing to make the GIF is done in the cloud rather than on your machine. With these options you can make quick and fun GIFs from YouTube videos in just a few minutes.
Use GIFs.com for great customization
Step 1: Find the YouTube video that you want to turn into a GIF (perhaps a NASA archive?) and copy its URL.

Read more
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more