No More Creeping as Instagram Pulls the Plug on the Following Tab on Its App

Instagram is bididng goodbye to this controversial feature of its app: the Following Tab. This means users can stop creeping on each other. The Following Tab used to allow users track what the people you follow are doing online.

The Following Tab was here before the Explore Tab and it was introduced in 2011. It was a way to see what posts other people were liking or commenting or people they were following.

The feature now sits at the Activity Feed and Instagram is trimmig the Activity Feed by pulling the plug on it.

Vishal Shah, Instagram Head of Product tells BuzzFeed that they’re cutting the cord as “People didn’t always know that their activity is surfacing. So, you have a case where it’s not serving the use case you built if for, but it’s also causing people to be surprised when their activity is showing up.”

I KNOW THAT’S WHY IT WAS SO GOOD pic.twitter.com/WfEFrYUBQc

— Ashley Feinberg (ashleyfeinberg.bsky.social) (@ashleyfeinberg) October 7, 2019

IG's retiring the "Following" tab. Hadn't used it until I read this article, then, of course, checked out what my friends have been up to…
Damn…
I have good friends. Not one skeevy dude in my feed liking/commenting on scantily clad women. Bravo amici!https://t.co/XNTMoSTQOF

— Rand Fishkin (follow @randderuiter on Threads) (@randfish) October 7, 2019

I didn’t even know this feed existed and now I’m going to be obsessively checking it until it’s gone. https://t.co/fmPmPU8BiB

— Martin SFP Bryant (@MartinSFP) October 7, 2019

“Simplicity was the driving factor,” he adds.

Adam Mosseri who’s the head at Instagram said they’re unshipping.

https://twitter.com/mosseri/status/1181288498654924803

Users are conflicted.

Instagram had began testing removing the app earlier before and Reddit users complained about it

Comment
byu/PeanutOreoMapleSyrup from discussion
inInstagram

Starting this week, the company has started removing it from some users and the removal process should be complete within this week.

@instagram I WANT MY FOLLOWING TAB BACK!!!! FINISH THE FCKING TEST ALREADY!

— DemonHuntress (@DemonHuntress88) October 1, 2019

Thou shalt not be horny on main

No more finding out your signficant other is thirsting on other people’s posts in what is termed as micro-cheating.

https://twitter.com/jacyjordan/status/747211126358761478

https://twitter.com/kateconger/status/1181247105299435523

Whether or not people are horny online is between them and God. To quote a wise man I know, it’s none of my business

— woke stifler (@Yelix) October 7, 2019

After this week, the Activity Feed will just show you you own activity. This will include people who like your post or leave comments plus content suggestions based on the posts you’ve interacted with.

This is how it will compare.

Will Instagram save people’s relationships?

A dramatic problem 😉…:
"Instagram should really remove the Following tab. It really hurts when someone close is ignoring you but they are busy liking and following other people," said one user.

— Dirk M 🌎 🌍 🌏 🇺🇦 (@DirkMarienfeld) September 29, 2019

when hasnt the instagram "following" tab ended in heartbreak

— darcie (@333333333433333) November 25, 2016

Anything that makes you oblivious to the terrifying covert behavior of your partner is pro-monogamy so I support it https://t.co/FQMybn9RSC

— Christin (@hexprax) October 7, 2019

Users are already conflicted. Some want it not to be removed

https://twitter.com/malloriesullivn/status/1181248852726370306

mmm sorry how else am I meant to tell if a guy is Normal or Creepy depending on how many bikini shots he likes in a row https://t.co/RvUNkzG5MM

— Tahlia Pritchard (@Tahls) October 7, 2019

Snoopers bout to be BIG MAD! https://t.co/dCo7YTLH7E

— Marshall Harris (@mharrisonair) October 7, 2019

Honestly, same. This is why I don’t want it to go.

https://twitter.com/mathowie/status/1181244427395723264

Hard relate to this tweet

this is so funny to me because my instagram experience has gone like this

me: how am i supposed to connect with new people if i can't retweet and they can't retweet?
instagrammers: oh! use the following tab.
me: weird, but i guess it makes sense. thanks
instagram: not so fast https://t.co/8LQRVMITfz

— Fiora (@FioraAeterna) October 7, 2019

Others are happy about it

https://twitter.com/iamkillface/status/1181245946816016384

Bad news for the fucking weirdos who tried to cancel others based on what they liked or who they followed while completely disregarding their own creepy voyeurism https://t.co/5lqXlJdMuX

— Eric Hu (@_EricHu) October 7, 2019

https://twitter.com/EscoBlades/status/1181305913061322753

https://twitter.com/highkin/status/1181338578174889985

https://twitter.com/alyssabereznak/status/1181249662214262791

My favourite meme

https://twitter.com/hunterwalk/status/1181250911215087616