Big changes are happening to Instagram's news feed algorithm as the photo-sharing social site announced its plans to change the order of updates that appears on a user's Instagram feed. It will soon be "optimized" to show most popular posts first instead of chronologically.
Instagram shared their plan in a post on the company's blog page Tuesday. "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," the statement said. "We're focusing on optimizing the order - all the posts will still be there, just in a different order."
The company said that it is doing this because most users averagely miss 70 percent of the posts on their news feed. But with the algorithm changes, it is expected to boost users' interest on what is going on from their followers. "What this is about is making sure that the 30 percent you see is the best 30 percent possible," said Kevin Stystrom, Instagram's chief executive, via New York Times.
It's unclear how the company will determine what post is relevant to the user, but the changes are not going to happen drastically. The company is still testing this feature with a small group of users. "We're going to take time to get this right and listen to your feedback along the way," the company reiterated in its statement. However, users are already complaining about the changes, per Gizmodo.
Meanwhile, some analysts say that the changes won't have much impact for brands and business accounts relying on Instagram and follower engagements. "If we're creating content that is truly relevant and engaging for our fans, we hope that any algorithm won't hurt our chances of reaching fans," said Huge associate director Kevin Del Rosario via Ad Week.
Some also believe that Instagram won't go by way of Facebook in terms of delivering content. "The Instagram community is just different and expects a level of authenticity and accessibility that isn't reflected on Facebook," said marketing strategist Orli LeWinter.
