A few days ago, during a media tour at its headquarters in San Francisco, Instagram (which is of course owned by Facebook) shared with its guests the factors that determine what posts each user sees in his or her feed. The three main factors are Interest, recency, and relationship.
Since 2016, Instagram has not been chronological; what you see is determined by a “secret algorithm”. Even though there was TONS of backlash – Instagram says relevancy sorting has led to its (800 million) users seeing 90 percent of their friends’ posts and spending more time on the app.
While we were able to decipher some of the information about how that algorithm works, the inner functioning’s have been kept secret.
This makes Instagram the first platform to share their top-secret information. I’ve shared some info with you in the past about how algorithms, including the Instagram algorithm, and how they work, here is an updated version straight from the horse’s mouth! And luckily for us, nothing here will be earthshattering. It’s all very similar to what was suspected, but now we can confirm some of those theories.
The Big 3
Instagram continuously monitors your activities on its app, so that it can show you posts that you will most care about. This means that every users’ feed is different based on their activities. There are 3 primary factors that decide what you will see:
- Interest: The algorithm sorts the posts of those you follow based on your past interactions with similar content.
- Recency: More recent posts are given priority over something a few days or weeks old.
- Relationship: You will be shown content shared by those you are closest with (in the eyes of Instagram). This is determined by activities such as liking, commenting, or being tagged together in photos
How can you use this info to improve your visibility and reach? Watch the video to get the whole scoop!
