Instagram is following in the footsteps of Facebook and Twitter, announcing plans today to use algorithms that surface photos and videos in your feed based on personal interests — not the time they published.
In a blog post, the Facebook-owned social media giant wrote today that “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,” Instagram noted. “As we begin, we’re focusing on optimizing the order — all the posts will still be there, just in a different order.”
Facebook made the same changes back in 2009; Twitter announced something similar earlier this year for its feed.
Instagram has stuck with the pure, reverse chronological order method of showing content since launching in 2010. But as the network continues to grow and more content floods into user feeds, the order in which posts appear will change “in the coming months,” Instagram said.
The New York Times noted that the changes will happen slowly for a small subset of users, allowing Instagram to test the new feature and listen to feedback.
