Web/Mobile App Critique

    

      I have decided to review the web/mobile app Instagram. Created in 2010, it started out as a mobile check-in app called Burbn. Because of its similarity to Foursquare, the creators decided to put the app's focus on photo-sharing, thus Instagram was born. Throughout the years, it has gained popularity with celebrities and individuals who enjoy posting pictures of their daily adventures. The app certainly has changed since the early days of only being able to post one picture at a time. Now you can include up to 10 pictures in one post, upload videos, create stories, and choose from a variety of filters.  

    As someone who uses Instagram daily, I find the app easy to use. It is straightforward and does not have much of a learning curve, though Instagram does provide short prompts to educate users about what each icon does and or when new features roll out. When you sign up for Instagram, the on-boarding prompts are short and effective. The app lets users play with the interface by themselves and teaches them as they go, like a well-designed video game. The buttons on the app are mapped out so that the natural way of holding the phone for most people allows for the user to access the most used features: home feed and user profile.  

    The design of the app has been updated a few times since its start. There was a design update in 2020 where the app added a Reels tab and a button dedicated to shopping. Reels are Instagram’s version of a TikTok video. You can also view TikTok videos in the Reels tab. The latest design update is the layout. There are a variety of different changes that impact post sizes, Stories, and the types of posts you see on your feed. The most noticeable change is that posts are now bigger and take up more of the screen, laid out in a 9:16 ratio. That means the caption and likes are now placed on top of the photo, which is vastly different.  

    The functionality of the app is simple. It is a popular way to connect with celebrities, brands, and friends. Users can do so by clicking the follow button on the homepage of the person they wish to follow. It has an array of features, from short-form videos to live streaming and private messaging. It allows the users to share photos and videos for free. Users can share posts that they enjoy to their stories or to their friends in the direct messaging feature.  

However, as with everything, there is always room for improvement. My three suggestions would be: 

• To allow users to post more than 10 photos in one post. Once upon a time, you were limited to how many photos you could post to Facebook, but they updated that feature. I believe, since they now own Instagram, they should do the same.  

• To allow users to send pictures from their phone gallery to their friends in direct messages. Right now they can only share videos and photos from their newsfeed or links to other websites. 

• To be able to post photo albums to the user's profile. Right now, they can save stories to their profile page that they do not wish to be archived after 24 hours. Either that or create a tab for photo albums to allow users to upload more photos that they could not include in their initial newsfeed post.  

 

Web App Screen shot: 

 

 

Phone App Screen shot: