Instagram is Testing an Algorithm-Free Feed

INSTAGRAM IS GIVING PEOPLE WHAT THEY ASKED FOR, BUT DO THEY REALLY WANT IT?

One of the most common complaints about Instagram (and most social channels) is the algorithm. We know that, because of its algorithm, Facebook pushes the most extreme content that tends to create divisiveness and negative outcomes.

Perhaps as a response to user requests, or perhaps to get ahead of the lawsuits that have been mounting against them, Instagram has announced that it is testing out three options for how users can organize their news feeds.

In a recent video, Instagram showed how all three would live together, nested as a menu, and that people could choose one, or may switch between all three versions, which are:

1. Home — the standard algorithmic-based feed where IG attempts to predict the content that you're most likely to engage with
2. Favourites — a feed that users can manually curate, populated only with content from accounts that you've tagged as a favourite
3. Following — this is the chronological feed. It will a true stream of posts from everyone that you follow, presented as they're posted

For years, the leadership at Facebook has been telling us that we don't actually want a true chronological feed, so this feels like a way for them to prove that they're right. Just in case they aren't, here are a few things that we may need to consider once the features fully drop:

• If people do start using the Favourites feed, how can our accounts be so compelling that they want our content to appear there?
• If people are using the Following option, we'll want to pay much more attention to post timing. When are they opening that tab? What's the best time to get noticed? These answers will likely be much different than they are with a robot deciding what to show people.
• Is the newsfeed still relevant for us? Attention has already been shifting away, and this update may cause people to use the feed only for close friends, while they get their news and entertainment in Reels, Stories, or elsewhere

Written by Conner Galway, Junction Consulting