But they aren't asking people which one they prefer. Some GM or product manager somewhere has goals to "increase engagement" which is probably naively defined a

But they aren't asking people which one they prefer. Some GM or product manager somewhere has goals to "increase engagement" which is probably naively defined as scrolling or clicking more. They need those metrics to go up to sell more ads. People's opinion that Instagram is 'ruined' is completely valid. Just because the 'average' experience ticked up doesn't mean that you're making it better for everyone. This is a classic case of managing to the average. The desires of the people who are most passionate about Instagram are being ignored in lieu of hitting quarterly numbers. This is why it's important to deeply understand your users qualitatively as well as quantitatively. You can't A/B test your way to a great product.