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I hope Threads won't exhibit the same hostility towards the users as IG does. (What's up with IG and its hostile UX? Videos can't be fast forwarded or tracked

I hope Threads won't exhibit the same hostility towards the users as IG does. (What's up with IG and its hostile UX? Videos can't be fast forwarded or tracked at all, profile pictures can't be zoomed, clicking on it brings you to stories, images can't be copied easily, etc.)

frogulis 3y ago
Videos not being trackable is such a perplexing one. Is it intended to keep the user watching longer by forcing them to re-watch the whole video if they want to see something again?
- komali2 3y ago
  When I complained to my friend at Instagram about this, this is the exact answer she gave as to why they have it like this. Instagram is a Duke of dark pattern ux, I'd say king but there's travel booking websites out there that hold the crown.
- Larrikin 3y ago
  It's also there to force the user to watch the full video to see if the build up to some final product was actually worth seeing. Both reasons are there to take seconds off your life to juice their engagement stats.
- lxgr 3y ago
  Given that Youtube copied it for their "shorts" clone of TikTok/Reels, it must be working for the platforms...
  - balder1991 3y ago
    I think their reasoning is that if it’s just a few seconds it “simplifies” the UI, which is why if the reel is just a bit longer it is trackable. TikTok on the other hand I think the video needs to be much longer to be trackable.
  - chromakode 3y ago
    YouTube shorts are seekable.
    - schott12521 3y ago
      It’s a double edged sword, because the seekability of YT Shorts mean I’ll actually watch them.
    - mh- 3y ago
      That is a relatively recent change.
      - lxgr 3y ago
        Huh, yeah, I just checked and can indeed now scrub them! It's been a while since I last gave them a chance.
    - Noumenon72 3y ago
      Not in my web browser right at this minute. I have to edit the URL from /shorts/ to /watch?v= all the time.
      - redsaber 3y ago
        I used a greasemonkey script to automatically edit the URL for me
  - whywhywhywhy 3y ago
    Really wish the engineers behind that design did us a solid and at least left the shortcut keys (left/right/j/l) in. Dropping those too is criminal.
- CaptainBanger 3y ago
  [dead]
- SushiHippie 3y ago
  You definitely can jump in a video (at least on android). The white bar at the bottom, which shows the progress of the reel/video, can be dragged. It is a very buggy experience, but it works. I think it doesn't work with very short videos.
latenightcoding 3y ago
And you can't hide who you are following (even tho you can on fb), which is a big deal.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
mcbutterbunz 3y ago
It’s really confusing because you can fast forward some videos but others you can’t. It drives me crazy that it’s not easier to control things.
Arn_Thor 3y ago
You can bet it will be as bad or worse
Tepix 3y ago
Not to mention that you're only allowed a single hyperlink.
- pjc50 3y ago
  That's them trying to rate-limit the use by sex workers. Entire sites have sprung up to turn your single allowed Insta link into a number of other links.
  - Tepix 3y ago
    Still, it's user hostile behaviour.
black3r 3y ago
the worst user hostility is that you can't browse it while not logged in (which was also introduced to twitter recently)
agys 3y ago
The UI to post a story is so inconsistent/illogic that it’s difficult to understand if it comes from incompetence or from some hidden scheme.

frogulis 3y ago

Videos not being trackable is such a perplexing one. Is it intended to keep the user watching longer by forcing them to re-watch the whole video if they want to see something again?

komali2 3y ago
When I complained to my friend at Instagram about this, this is the exact answer she gave as to why they have it like this. Instagram is a Duke of dark pattern ux, I'd say king but there's travel booking websites out there that hold the crown.
Larrikin 3y ago
It's also there to force the user to watch the full video to see if the build up to some final product was actually worth seeing. Both reasons are there to take seconds off your life to juice their engagement stats.
lxgr 3y ago
Given that Youtube copied it for their "shorts" clone of TikTok/Reels, it must be working for the platforms...
- balder1991 3y ago
  I think their reasoning is that if it’s just a few seconds it “simplifies” the UI, which is why if the reel is just a bit longer it is trackable. TikTok on the other hand I think the video needs to be much longer to be trackable.
- chromakode 3y ago
  YouTube shorts are seekable.
  - schott12521 3y ago
    It’s a double edged sword, because the seekability of YT Shorts mean I’ll actually watch them.
  - mh- 3y ago
    That is a relatively recent change.
    - lxgr 3y ago
      Huh, yeah, I just checked and can indeed now scrub them! It's been a while since I last gave them a chance.
  - Noumenon72 3y ago
    Not in my web browser right at this minute. I have to edit the URL from /shorts/ to /watch?v= all the time.
    - redsaber 3y ago
      I used a greasemonkey script to automatically edit the URL for me
- whywhywhywhy 3y ago
  Really wish the engineers behind that design did us a solid and at least left the shortcut keys (left/right/j/l) in. Dropping those too is criminal.
CaptainBanger 3y ago
[dead]
SushiHippie 3y ago
You definitely can jump in a video (at least on android). The white bar at the bottom, which shows the progress of the reel/video, can be dragged. It is a very buggy experience, but it works. I think it doesn't work with very short videos.

latenightcoding 3y ago

And you can't hide who you are following (even tho you can on fb), which is a big deal.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

mcbutterbunz 3y ago

It’s really confusing because you can fast forward some videos but others you can’t. It drives me crazy that it’s not easier to control things.

Arn_Thor 3y ago

You can bet it will be as bad or worse

Tepix 3y ago

Not to mention that you're only allowed a single hyperlink.

pjc50 3y ago
That's them trying to rate-limit the use by sex workers. Entire sites have sprung up to turn your single allowed Insta link into a number of other links.
- Tepix 3y ago
  Still, it's user hostile behaviour.

black3r 3y ago

the worst user hostility is that you can't browse it while not logged in (which was also introduced to twitter recently)

agys 3y ago

The UI to post a story is so inconsistent/illogic that it’s difficult to understand if it comes from incompetence or from some hidden scheme.