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Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri sat down with tech creator Marques Brownlee to discuss the platform's evolution, creator monetization challenges, and the future of social media in an era of AI-generated content. The wide-ranging interview revealed Instagram's ongoing struggle to balance innovation with its core identity while competing against platforms like TikTok and YouTube for creator attention.
Key Points
- Instagram has struggled to create a sustainable revenue-sharing program for creators, citing three key requirements: break-even economics, transparent eligibility criteria, and meaningful payouts
- The platform is testing a new AI-powered feature that allows users to see and customize their algorithmic interests, moving beyond simple chronological feeds
- Mosseri acknowledged the risk of social platforms becoming increasingly similar as they compete, comparing it to "crustacean evolution" where species converge on optimal forms
- AI-generated content presents both opportunities and threats, with concerns about maintaining human creativity while managing an explosion of synthetic content
- Instagram serves as the "de facto home" for most creators despite YouTube's superior revenue sharing and TikTok's discovery advantages
The Creator Monetization Challenge
Instagram's approach to paying creators differs significantly from competitors like YouTube, which has built a robust revenue-sharing system. According to Mosseri, the platform facilitates over $10 billion annually in creator earnings, but primarily through off-platform brand deals rather than direct payments from Instagram.
The CEO outlined three critical requirements for scaling Instagram's revenue-sharing program. First, the program must achieve financial sustainability without burning company resources. Second, eligibility criteria must be transparent rather than algorithmic black boxes. Third, payments must reach meaningful amounts to avoid embarrassing creators with minimal checks.
"If I sent you a $4 check, you'd be like, 'Thanks, but now I'm kind of offended,'" Mosseri explained, though he acknowledged this stance might be "overreacting to angry DMs" from creators frustrated with small payouts.
The platform has found more success with partner ads, which allow creators to opt into letting brands use their content for direct-response advertising campaigns. This approach taps into Meta's sophisticated advertising measurement system while expanding beyond traditional brand awareness campaigns.
Algorithmic Transparency and User Control
Instagram is testing a groundbreaking feature that shows users their algorithmic interests and allows customization. The tool emerged from a popular Threads meme called "dear algorithm," where users wrote letters requesting specific content changes.
The feature displays users' top interests based on their engagement patterns, allows adding new interests, and enables blocking unwanted topics. Mosseri described plans for more granular control, such as removing interests that users no longer want to see or were based on "hate watching" behavior.
This represents a significant risk for the platform, as Mosseri acknowledged two major concerns. First, the system might fail to deliver on user requests, creating accountability issues. Second, showing users what they request rather than what drives engagement could reduce platform usage and revenue.
"Showing you what you ask for might mean you use Instagram less than showing you what you tend to interact with more," Mosseri noted.
Platform Evolution and Competition
Mosseri drew parallels between social platform evolution and biological convergence, referencing how crustaceans evolve toward similar optimal forms. He observed that social platforms increasingly adopt similar features, with the pace of convergence accelerating over time.
Instagram has evolved far beyond its original square photo format, adding Stories, direct messages, and Reels to remain competitive. Without these additions, Mosseri suggested, "we wouldn't be talking today" because Instagram would lack sufficient relevance.
The platform's internal metrics reveal constant competitive pressure. Teams regularly conduct "back tests" by withholding improvements from small user groups to measure their impact. These tests often show underlying headwinds of 5% every six months, meaning platforms must continuously innovate just to maintain current engagement levels.
Video content now dominates Instagram usage, despite being less efficient for advertising revenue. Mosseri explained that watching one video occupies time that could have been spent viewing multiple photos and their associated ads, reducing "monetization efficiency."
The AI Content Dilemma
Artificial intelligence presents Instagram's most complex near-term challenge. Mosseri expects AI to enable more creators to produce content while allowing non-creators to generate compelling material for the first time. However, this democratization comes with significant risks.
The platform already hosts entirely AI-generated creators that produce engaging content without human involvement. While efficient for Instagram's content needs, these synthetic personas threaten human creators' livelihoods and raise questions about authenticity.
Mosseri expressed concern about an explosion of AI-generated content potentially drowning out human voices. If content volume increases 10 to 100 times without corresponding engagement growth, average reach will decline dramatically, likely affecting human creators disproportionately.
"I haven't found a funny AI yet. I haven't found an AI that has said something that I thought was on the bleeding edge of what's interesting in culture right now," Mosseri observed, suggesting current AI content appeals mainly to "lowest common denominator" preferences.
The CEO believes human creativity, taste, and cultural understanding remain irreplaceable advantages, even as AI capabilities expand. However, he acknowledged these distinctions may blur as technology advances.
Looking Ahead
Instagram's future depends heavily on navigating technological shifts while maintaining cultural relevance. Mosseri identified the next few years as critical for AI integration, but acknowledged greater uncertainty around hardware transitions, particularly the shift from smartphones to augmented reality glasses.
Meta's investment in AR technology through products like Ray-Ban smart glasses and the Orion prototype suggests Instagram will eventually adapt to new form factors. However, Mosseri admitted uncertainty about how content consumption might work in a glasses-first world.
The platform's success increasingly depends on remaining the "de facto home for most creators" while competing against YouTube's superior monetization and TikTok's discovery algorithms. With three billion monthly active users, Instagram has achieved massive scale, but Mosseri emphasized the existential risk of dropping from "tier one" to "tier two" cultural relevance.
As social media platforms navigate an era of rapid technological change and fierce competition, Instagram's ability to balance innovation with identity while supporting creator communities will determine whether it maintains its position at the center of digital culture or becomes another casualty of platform evolution.
