In March, Instagram made a controversial announcement: it would follow the footsteps of Facebook and Twitter and step away from a chronological news feed. The photo-sharing app has finally revealed the new algorithmic feed will debut this month.
“You’ll see this new experience as we roll it out over the coming month,” said Instagram in a blog post. “We’re going to keep improving over time to help make Instagram even better.”
In theory, the new feed will place emphasis on posts that are important to users by learning what they value. In a March blog post, the Facebook-owned social media platform revealed its users are missing roughly 70 percent of content in their feeds. Its plan to shift to personalized algorithms aims to show content that users “care about the most.”
“With this new ordering you won’t miss your favorite band’s video after the concert, even if it took place across the world in a different time zone,” said Instagram in a blog post. “And no matter how many accounts you follow, you should see your best friend’s latest posts.”
Essentially, the algorithm will shift the order of images and videos based on factors such as your like and comment history, and your relationships with other users. Instagram has already rolled out the feature for select users to test the new feed to find that users are more actively engaged.
“Over the past few months, we brought this new way of ordering posts to a portion of the community, and we found that people are liking photos more, commenting more and generally engaging with the community in a more active way,” reads Instagram’s Help Center.
For those worried about missing posts from specific accounts, know that you can guarantee knowing when new content comes up by turning on post notifications. Simply go to the main page of the account you are interested in, click on the three dots on the upper right hand corner and select “Turn on Post Notifications.” This will send an alert any time the account posts a new photo. Should the notifications become too overwhelming, users can turn them off by clicking on the three dots and selecting “Turn off Post Notifications.”
