Ever innocently wander onto Instagram's Following tab and accidentally unearth something you, uh, didn't necessarily want to see? Like your boyfriend commenting on his ex's photo, you know, the one with the cliché caption about wanting what you can't have? Anybody? If Venmo's feed can illuminate the hard truth of who is hanging out with who, Instagram's following tab can illuminate who wants to be hanging out with who — which is arguably juicier. Needless to say, Instagram's Following tab, which lists the real-time activity of the accounts you follow — from their likes and comments to who they start following — is ripe with stalking fodder. But this week, it all comes to an end.
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instagram got rid of the tab where u can see what people you follow are liking and honestly i’m disappointed bc I never got to fight with my boyfriend for liking an ass pic at 3 am. mostly bc I do not have a boyfriend, but
— ellie schnitt (@holy_schnitt) October 7, 2019
Instagram's head of product, Vishal Shah, told BuzzFeed News today that Following was a feature many users didn't know existed, and that Instagram decided to do away with it in the name of maintaining simplicity on the app. Now, instead of seeing both the Following and You tabs when you click on the heart icon on the bottom panel of your Instagram, you'll just see your own activity. But IG stalkers, have no fear: Though the Following tab did serve as a formidable stalking tool — as evidenced by its role in revealing many celebrities relationships, such as that of Tyler Cameron and Gigi Hadid — you can still do the old fashioned Instagram stalk by diving deep into someone's feed. Just make sure you don't like anything from too far back. (I warn you from personal experience.)
you know what i never do is i never click over to the tab to look at what people i follow fav on instagram because i know it will DESTROY me
— Naomi Fry (@frynaomifry) August 4, 2018