The days of scrolling back to the last post on your Instagram timeline are about to be over. Instagram is ditching a chronological feed in favor of an algorithm-based feed.
As the instant photo sharing app explained in a statement on their blog, its 400 million users miss approximately 70% of their feeds. In an effort to change this, Instagram will transition to a new algorithm where content will be ordered to show the moments it believes its users care about the most.
“As Instagram has grown, it’s become harder to keep up with all the photos and videos people share.” The Facebook-owned app explained in their statement, “The order of the photos and videos in your feed will be based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post.”
To put it simply, Instagram’s introduction of a non-chronological timeline will show the content you consistently interact with.
While this new change may seem like a complete transformation of the way the app functions, its co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom all but guaranteed it wouldn’t make huge waves.
During an interview with the New York Times, Systrom reflected, “If there’s one thing we do really well as a company, it’s that we take big change slowly and deliberately and bring the community along with us. It’s not like people will wake up tomorrow and have a different Instagram.”
Despite these assurances, many business owners feel uncomfortable about the change. The algorithm may be the final phase in what a 2015 social media study has revealed to be Instagram’s emergence as a pay-to-play platform.
So while users will see more of their friend’s posts, they will also most likely see advertising catered closer to their actual interests. Businesses may experience greater benefits from running ads on Instagram since its ad targeting will be more specific to a demographic that may interact with an ad. It also means it may be harder for people just on the outside of their demographic to see the ad.
Although we can’t analyze how the new algorithm will affect Instagram until it takes effect, we can provide some helpful advice: Don’t over post, rely on genuine engagement, and continue to post great content.
For more tips on how to create a great Instagram feed for your business, read more of our blogs here!
