The confusion between Facebook and Instagram prompted co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger

• September 26, 2018

• September 26, 2018

  5 minute Lily

Over the past year, this has begun to change.

Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger often clashed with general manager Mark Zuckerberg on a variety of issues, including the extent to which Systrom and Krieger could chart their own path, according to people familiar with the relationship. . The co-founders were also upset by some adjustments to the photo sharing app that appeared to have been designed to promote Facebook's growth at Instagram's expense, some people said.

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Many Instagram frames were caught off guard in May when a reshuffle of management seemed to give Mr. Systrom less access to Mr. Zuckerberg, according to a familiar person. Until then, Mr. Systrom often discussed directly with Mr. Zuckerberg product plans directly related to product plans. The change appeared to insert a layer between Systrom and Zuckerberg, said the person.

The tension played out in a context where Instagram has emerged as a more popular product with certain market segments – including young people and many key influencers in the media and technology – than the Facebook platform that Mr. Zuckerberg had developed monster.

The co-founders of Instagram, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, have resigned from their positions as CEO and technical director of the photo-sharing application owned by Facebook Inc., both of which explain little. Grace Lee reports.

According to Zuckerberg, his increased involvement with Instagram is a testament to his recognition of the application's growing role in the future of the company, according to one familiar with his thinking.

But since the end of last year, and particularly in recent months, Instagram and Facebook officials disagreed about Instagram's autonomy in the organization and Facebook's growth strategies. .

Facebook teams have begun to exercise greater control over their Instagram counterparts, prompting some executives to leave, according to some people. A few weeks ago, for example, the Instagram marketing division was integrated with the Facebook marketing team, they said.

Mr. Systrom and Mr. Zuckerberg have frequently opposed, including a few weeks ago, Facebook's changing growth strategies.

Changes in the application

Instagram officials argued that some of the changes to Facebook's products compromised the app's ability to add and retain users, according to people familiar with the subject. After years of growing Instagram support, Facebook seemed to distract users from its main application from Instagram, where ads still do not order the same prices as those appearing in the news feed. from Facebook.

Some product settings appeared subtle. For example, content shared from user to Facebook was clearly labeled as coming from the Instagram app. It was easy for a user's Facebook friends to tap a link to Instagram from the news feed.

This year, designers have changed the Facebook app to remove many references to Instagram, classify Systrom and Krieger, according to people familiar.

Yet, few people at the Menlo Park, Calif., Headquarters were prepared on Monday when Systrom and Krieger announced they would leave Instagram, the company they launched a decade ago when they were both from Stanford University. Mr. Systrom, who planned to be on Facebook leave until October, had not communicated his projects more broadly to Instagram employees when the news was released.

"These departures come at a critical time for [Facebook], faces many significant legal and regulatory challenges around the world, and tries to support growth and margins while investing substantially, "said Scott Kessler of CFRA Research. "We think Systrom and Krieger's starts are a big hit."

Agreement of one billion dollars

Systrom and Krieger sold Instagram to Facebook in 2012 for about $ 1 billion at a time when the app had no income and only 13 employees, prompting many to claim that Mr. Zuckerberg had paid too much for a momentary product without commercial strategy.

Now, Instagram has become a fundamental part of Facebook's dominant position in social media. Many analysts and observers have said that antitrust regulators would probably not approve the deal if it were proposed today.

The two men officially joined Facebook six years ago this month. Facebook shares are generally acquired over a four-year period. Thanks to the stock market performance of Facebook in recent years, Systrom and Krieger will probably leave with hundreds of millions of dollars and few links with the parent company.

Instagram has been a major bright spot for Facebook, which has had to cope with a wave of press over the last two years for allowing misinformation, live video violence and other bad actors and, in many cases , flourish on his platform. Facebook is facing a slowdown in user growth and revenue.

Instagram stayed well above the fray. It is considered by many users as less political and less controversial, with a focus on travel, fashion and celebrity culture, which has become a less central element of the Facebook experience, with the site having put Focus on more news. It also continued to strengthen, surpassing the monthly user count of more than $ 1 billion in June, helped by younger users who held Facebook accounts but did not use them as much.

Internal fault

This spring, another internal crisis emerged with the rollout of Instagram's video hub, IGTV. The service was launched this summer as both a standalone application and a section of the main Instagram application to allow users to publish high definition video.

Before the launch, some Facebook makers argued that the product would compete with Facebook Watch, another long-running video hub built into the main Facebook app that was launched in August 2017, said a familiar person to the dispute.

Mr. Systrom prevailed, but the fight had consequences, according to the familiar person.

In recent months, Zuckerberg and other Facebook executives have begun to prepare for the possibility that Instagram co-founders will leave, according to someone familiar with his thinking.

In May, Facebook confirmed that one of its top product managers, Adam Mosseri, was turning to Instagram to oversee the products, as part of a complete redesign of Facebook's executive positions. Messrs. Systrom and Krieger recruited Mosseri, who headed Facebook's news feed, to the new position, people familiar with the situation said. Mr. Zuckerberg agreed with Mr. Mosseri's decision in part because he thought he would be part of the new direction of the application, if necessary, according to a person familiar with his thought.

As part of this broader reshuffle, Systrom would report to Chris Cox, a longtime friend and ally of Zuckerberg, who has become product manager for all Facebook properties, including Instagram and WhatsApp.

Mr. Systrom had previously technically reported to Mike Schroepfer, chief technical officer of Facebook, but this reporting structure was not well known. Some Instagram members thought that the new structure would give Mr. Systrom much less access to Mr. Zuckerberg, with whom he had frequently interacted before. "It was always Kevin and Mark," said one person familiar with the situation.

The departure of Systrom and Krieger follows the departure of the co-founders of other major properties acquired from Facebook, such as the co-founders of the virtual reality device manufacturer Oculur VR and the WhatsApp messaging service. People familiar with their relationship said that MM. Systrom and Krieger are close allies and have always been called to move at the same pace. It is unlikely that any of them will remain so the other is gone, people said.

Dow Jones Newswires

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