All social media platforms have evolved – and now Instagram have confirmed that it is changing the way you'll see photos and videos of your friends in the stream. Chronological sorting is going to make way in favor of a new algorithm driven stream where images will be sorted based on "the likelihood that you'll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post."
Basically, Instagram has grown so fast, and users have really long lists – resulting in folks missing out on an average of 70% of their feed! So Instagram wants to fix this, narrow it down a bit to the individual's 'tastes'. Posts will still be date stamped, but content will be streamed to you based on your preferences. Some are seeing this as a way to create perfect opportunities for targeted advertising – and there's nothing wrong with that (other than with those who have serious privacy issues).
How this will work with brands, influencer posts are yet to be seen. Obviously, brands will have a hard time figuring out how the new algorithm works, and how they are supposed to optimize their content to get on top of the stream. At the end of the day, it is a shift towards real 'discovery' and 'interest' and that actually promises a better experience. This change only causes your current followers to see less or more of your posts, depending on how often they "like" your images.
This is yet another push by a social platform towards algorithm driven content publishing. We just need to get used to that.
Here is the actual blog post from Instagram:
See the Moments You Care About First
You may be surprised to learn that people miss on average 70 percent of their feeds. As Instagram has grown, it’s become harder to keep up with all the photos and videos people share. This means you often don’t see the posts you might care about the most.To improve your experience, your feed will soon be ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most.
The order of 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. As we begin, we’re focusing on optimizing the order — all the posts will still be there, just in a different order.
If your favorite musician shares a video from last night’s concert, it will be waiting for you when you wake up, no matter how many accounts you follow or what time zone you live in. And when your best friend posts a photo of her new puppy, you won’t miss it.
We’re going to take time to get this right and listen to your feedback along the way. You’ll see this new experience in the coming months.
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