Don't be surprised if you'll see some changes happening on your Instagram feed soon. The company will ditch the chronological-based order of displaying photos in your feed and instead show them based on the number of likes, shares, and other social cues.
Instagram announced on Tuesday that it will be introducing a new algorithm more in line with the trend being used on Facebook and, more recently Twitter.
Displaying content based on popularity has been a standard on other social media sites, however, Instagram is only making this change now since it first began running its service in 2010.
According to an announcement from Instagram, many users will miss 70 percent of the information that is relevant to them. Therefore, the new feed algorithm will most likely show them the posts that it thinks matter to them 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,” Instagram said.
So no more missing your friend's cat photo next time you're stuck on a plane with no Internet signal. The new Instagram feed will ensure that all those kitten photos you keep double-tapping will appear first on your feed as soon as you're connected again.
Although both Facebook and Twitter have faced backlash from making such a change in their users' timelines, many believe that people have gotten so used to this algorithmic take on display feeds that Instagram may dodge the bullet on losing users from this change.
The switch will make it more difficult, however, for Instagram advertisers and users who use Instagram for publicity and marketing to create better and unique content to generate the likes and shares required for their posts to show up first on their followers' feeds.
On the other hand, those who simply want to make sure they see their friends' photos of that all-night party they passed out on and only get to check upon waking up with a hangover the next day, may still be able to see those photos first even if they happened hours before.
