This is how Instagram's potential update could ruin your entire profile

And the Internet is not happy...

Having a good aesthetic is the cardinal rule of Instagram, with online influencers - from food and fitness bloggers to brands and businesses - swearing by a flawless theme to get likes and followers.

This, according to every Instagram guide, is down to careful curation of our 3x3 photo grids, selecting an order that colour coordinates by row and matches each post in theme to those around it.

It has been that way since the beginning of time - or at least since the beginning of Instagram in 2010 - and we dread to think how many years of our lives we have clocked up perfecting our three-a-row feeds since then.

It is hardly surprising therefore that there was a global uproar - no that's not too strong - when it was rumoured that Instagram might be shaking up their format, moving from the three-across format to a 4x4 grid.

While the change may not seem too drastic to an unseasoned Instagram user, the shift will throw off the aesthetic of carefully curated feeds everywhere, thus rendering our hard work and time spent collating the perfect feed completely pointless.

While there has been no formal announcement of an imminent change, several users noticed the update to their profiles last month, with a 4x4 grid appearing on their profile rather than the original format.

This, users are speculating, is the app trialling the update, before potentially putting it into action for us all in the near future.

Understandably, the app's users aren't too happy with angry Instagrammers ironically taking to Twitter to voice their annoyance.

'Hey Instagram, people have spent years perfecting their feeds. No 4 grid update please', posted one user, while another tweeted 'Is everyone else's Instagram doing this?! My whole grid looks off now! Yo Instagram can we discuss this?'

'My Instagram now shows my feed as a 4x4 grid,' posted another confused user. 'I can feel the internet getting ready to explode.'

We couldn't agree more and from the extent of the outcry, we wouldn't be surprised if a petition emerged soon.