Instagram has done what they threatened to do (read: promised) and has globally switched the service from using a chronological feed to an algorithmic one. Instagram originally announced the changes back in March, but the new update went into effect earlier this week.
Unfortunately for Instagram users in love with their chronological feed, the update happens to coincide with a massive closure of Instagram’s API service , which is what allows third-party developers to create apps that interact with the Instagram service. That means that third-party app developer with enough programming skill to reorganize a user’s feed chronologically has been shut out from getting the chance.
Now technically speaking, because Instagram profiles are publically available on the internet (Go to Instagram.com/your_user_name in your web browser), an entreprising programmer could hack together a way to scrape a user’s following list (Instagram.com/your_user_name/following), find the most recent posts from those users and present them in a chronological feed. However, the method could be resource intensive, difficult to pull off on mobile fluidly and highly noticeable if it picks up steam. Also, you didn’t hear it from here.
To be fair to Instagram, they flouted some pretty convincing statistics as to why the switch to an algorithmic feed was a good idea — the main one being that on average, users miss 70 percent of their feeds, but it’s an easy to pull a number you want out of such a large data set — and although everybody always complains whenever Facebook changes its interface, who do you know that would want to switch back to Facebook’s interface 3-5 years ago?
Speaking of Facebook, who owns Instagram, smartphone users will now be forced to install the Messenger app as the mobile online portal for messages has been shut off intentionally. This really only impacts the poor sods whose phones have died and are trying to message someone via a incognito window on their friend’s phone, but hey.
What Zuckerberg wants, Zuckerberg gets: Carthago Delenda Est.
