Instagram is testing downvotes, while Bluesky launches a “follower’s only” feature

After many years of waiting, Instagram is testing a tool for users to indicate that they didn’t like a comment or think it’s relevant. The feature will appear on both Feed posts and Reels.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a post on Threads that the company won’t show a “dislike” count and won’t indicate users’ names, allowing people to privately signal that they don’t feel good about a particular comment. According to Mosseri, the new feature will help users better control their Instagram experience and what they see on the app. Eventually, the platform plans to introduce this signal into comment rankings to move disliked comments lower down.

“Our hope is that this might help make comments more friendly on Instagram,” Mosseri said.

Reddit has had a similar downvote mechanism for years, which the platform uses to rank different types of comments based on upvotes and downvotes.

Meanwhile, Bluesky has released a new update that now includes a “followers only” option that restricts replies to posts, as well as a “search posts” feature for user profiles. While the first helps differentiate the app from competitors like X and Meta’s Threads, the second tool is very similar to the one that X added in 2021 to facilitate the search for a specific user’s tweets.

According to Bluesky, the “followers only” option is a welcome addition for many on the app, as it allows users to limit their conversations to users of their choice. It is also especially useful when content goes viral and attracts the attention of more people who are not regular followers. The “search posts” function, for its part, will help to find a specific post if the user knows the person who wrote it.

Amazon shuts down photo and short video feed

Amazon is shutting down Inspire, its TikTok-like feed of photos and short videos that was available on its mobile app. The feature, which was launched in 2022 amid the rise of social e-commerce, allowed users to discover products and shop from content created by influencers, brands and fellow users.

Since its launch, Amazon had also been tapping into other social channels to boost its retail business. In 2023, it partnered with Instagram to facilitate shopping on its retail website directly within the Meta-owned app. It also partnered with Snapchat to allow users to buy its products through social ads.

The change also comes at a time when other social networks are launching new tools similar to TikTok, which is facing a possible ban in the U.S. While Bluesky and X have launched a dedicated vertical video channel, Meta unveiled a new video editing app called Edits, after ByteDance’s CapCut was momentarily removed the U.S.