If you’re wondering why certain videos look better on Instagram than others, there’s a reason. On Sunday, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, indicated that higher quality video was reserved for content creators who drive more views rather than those whose videos are less popular.
This disappointing development is a kick in the pants for short-form video creators, who’ve historically viewed the platform as an even playing field for many types of video content.
Video Quality Depends on Views
In an Instagram Reels post, Mosseri stated, “We want to show the highest-quality video we can. But if something isn’t watched for a long time—because the vast majority of views are in the beginning—we will move to a lower quality video. If it’s watched again a lot, then we’ll re-render the higher quality video.”
The Instagram exec took to Threads when his original post inspired users to question whether smaller content creators were being penalized for their lack of followers. But Mosseri explained that the difference in quality isn’t something that really matters.
“The quality shift isn’t huge,” Mosseri stated via Threads, “and wether [sic] or not people interact with videos is way more based on the content of the video than the quality.”
Creators Worry About Being Penalized
Many smaller creators aren’t buying it, however. Some suggested that they were at an unfair disadvantage when compared to more prominent, professional influencers. Others questioned if Instagram’s video resolution adjustments indicated a larger problem with the social media platform censoring or suppressing posts based on its own biases.
With a US presidential election happening in the next two weeks, that’s a scary thought. Especially if you’re someone who uses Instagram to view or create politically themed video content. Though, there is currently no evidence to support the notion that the social media giant is tinkering with its videos in other ways. We’ve explained the basics of Instagram videos if you’re new to this world.
On Threads, Mosseri remained firm that the video quality shift works at “an aggregate level not an individual viewer level…It’s not a binary threshold, but rather a sliding scale.” Which means you’re probably not being unfairly singled out just because you don’t have a million followers. Even if, on the surface, it may seem like that’s the case.
