A couple of weeks there was a bit of an uproar among Instagram users, when the Facebook owned social network announced a change in their current algorithm. As from yesterday Instagram are showing images in your feed depending on your interests and relationships to the accounts posting in your feed. Gone* is the chronological feed we have come to love from Instagram and in its place is this curated feed. (*this is being rolled out so you might still have a chronological feed).
Users responded to the announcement that this was on the way by posting images announcing their displeasure; some people (myself included!) even signed a petition. Why were people that upset? Personally, I don’t like the thought of missing something; of someone else deciding (as they do on Facebook) what I should see.
I have since thought a lot about these changes and have started to believe that it might not be that bad after all. One thing is certain, we can’t change it so we need to learn to roll with it. This early on no-one can predict exactly how it will impact them, in the meantime I think we need to figure out how we can make it work for us.
Kevin Systrom, Instagram co-founder stated in a recent interview with the New York Times that “on average, people miss about 70 percent of the posts in their Instagram feed.” He explained that the new algorithm “is about making sure that the 30 percent you see is the best 30 percent possible.”
Why the change? It is suspected that the change is to increase engagement. If you see more of your favourite accounts, you are more likely to interact and engage with those posts. There is the possibility that the algorithm feed will actually increase engagement for the majority of Instagram users.
- You will see what matters most to you. It will cut out the noise from all the images from the people you follow and shows you the best images (by best they mean the ones you have more chance of liking based on past behaviour). Would you rather see the most current images from everyone or the ones you are most likely to love?
- Imagine following lots of people, how would you ever see images from your favourite ten users? It would be very hard. You might even start unfollowing people in order to see the images you like best. So engagement/followers numbers would decrease.
“All the posts will still be there, just in a different order.” Instagram
This reordering has happened to 150 photos in your newsfeed. We have only ever been able to see the most current 150 images in our feed, so depending on how many people we follow and how often they post we miss some of our feed every day.
What can you do to make sure you are still seen?
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Turn on post notifications
Ask your followers to turn on post notifications, so they always know when you post an image.
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Give and you shall (hopefully) receive
Until my feed got a little larger I used to regularly go down and heart all images in my feed. I would always show the people I follow Instagram love. I still try to do the same, but do miss people. Give as many likes and comments as you can, for no other reason than it is a nice thing to do. People will return the favour, but that should be a secondary bonus.
- If you have time when you post an image see who likes/comments and return the favour to an image of theirs.
- Respond to comments. IG is a lovely community so engage with your followers.
- Ask a question or for peoples opinion within your comment.
- If you have a hashtag, like all the images, commenting where you can.
- Repost images or feature other users on your feed, always tagging and directing people to the other persons feed.
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Run a giveaway
Tell people you are going to host a giveaway and suggest they turn notifications on so they don’t miss it when you post the details.
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Host a daily challenge
Daily challenges are a useful way to increase engagement. You can set your following a challenge to improve any aspect of their life. Add value by giving a tip and then set the challenge. For example, if you post about blogging tips, your tips could be about how to brainstorm blog topic ideas, then you could challenge them to think of 5 new ideas. Again asking them to turn on notifications and giving them a reason to do so.
Interaction is the best way to ensure you see what you want to see the most and also to ensure you’re seen in other people’s feeds too. Turning on notifications will also help people to remember you. Although I think people might turn the notifications on for accounts that maybe they won’t remember off the top of their heads; but that they want to be reminded about. That is how I use notifications anyway. I know off by heart the IG handles of my favourite accounts; if all else fails and I miss them in my feed, I can search for them to make sure I have given their pictures likes and comments. I might have notifications set up for these people, but what I find they are most useful for are new people I follow and I love their feed, but they aren’t yet ingrained in my consciousness. I find a few reminders popping up, helps me to remember them. Then, hopefully they will move into my favourites list and be remembered without the prompts.
Have you noticed the difference in your feed yet? I hope you get to grips with the algorithm and make it work for you.
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Comments 27
What a great post Aby. This is really thoughtful, insightful and should take away a lot of people’s worries and concerns. Lets see as it rolls out how it affects us in realistic terms. These are great ideas x
Author
Thanks huni. Engagement and great pictures is they key. The suggestions to encourage people to turn on (if people want to ask for them to be turned on) also increase interaction and engagement, which is the real key to making this work xx
I completely agree that people should look to how to make the change work for them and stop assuming it’s going to be doomsday. It really isn’t.
I won’t be turning on post notifications though (and I have to say I really didn’t like the requests that flooded my IG stream yesterday). As much as I love my Instagram feed, I trust the algorithm will push the images I want to see to the top – the top 30%, as it’s described – and if I miss the odd image, I miss the odd image.
As much as I love my IG feed, I’m not so desperate to see every photo from someone that I am wiling to be inundated with hundreds of notifications a day to see them. If the average poster adds 3-5 photos a day and you turn on notifications for, say, your favourite 50 people, that’s 150-250 extra notifications a day!
Your other tips are good, though. The key to ‘winning’ at the new IG is to post regular, engaging content. Which is pretty much what the old rule was, only more so now the timeline becomes non-chronological.
If it helps, I’ve also written a post detailing the changes and what it means for bloggers here over on my blog.
Author
Exactly, I won’t be asking people to turn notifications on for me or advocate it across the board. There will be businesses and blogs who want people to turn them on, and here’s how to encourage people and these things will also increase engagement with your account, which is the key. I do use notifications, as I mention, mainly to remind myself of the new accounts I love.
Just as an aside, the change is not being rolled out imminently – IG said as much last night. It *will* happen, but probably not for a few weeks would be my guess. My warning to people would be to think twice before asking people to turn on notifications – you may seem some benefit but you may also make others realise that they don’t interact with you anyway and unfollow you. I unfollowed 11 people yesterday – not because I was annoyed at the request (although I was) but because I realised I never really notice their photos in my stream anyway.
I haven’t noticed a change yet, I would hate to think that I will miss some of my favs so I have turned on some notifications. I love the way it has been as Instagram is by far my fav social media, probably because I love taking photos and seeing photos, but I also find my favourite little shops that way too. Hopefully it is all for the best and turns out great for all. I guess I just don’t like a lot about Facebook so I hope it doesn’t become like that. I wouldn’t like if it affected the little business either as it has been a great platform for them. Great post!
A great and informative post! I wish they weren’t changing the instagram feed and how it works but now you have explained it I can see that it actually might work better for us. I won’t be turning my notifications on yet, i’m just going to roll with it and see what happens….for now.
You’re very good at this kind of post Aby. I haven’t noticed any difference to my feed yet, but I thnk I’m still chronological (if that’s the phrase to use). I know I used ot be dreadful for engaging with my Instagram users but I do it daily now. Thanks for hosting #TheList
I am not looking forward to this change, I love scrolling through knowing I haven’t missed anything. Like you say wecan’t change it, so just get on with it. x
I wish they weren’t changing it. I love IG. I like scrolling through all the gorgeous pictures in my breaks and it certainly inspires me to take better shots. But the engagement worries me. I don’t have the time to engage as much as I’d like so I think I am going to drop off peoples feeds. I don’t know how you keep up on everything!!!
Initially I wasn’t happy about the change however there is nothing we can do about it. I’m hoping it’s positive and makes IG a bit more manageable as hopefully I will see the feeds I like more easily. I don’t have time to scroll through loads and prefer to look through hashtags or accounts that I like so I will continue to do that. #TheList
I’m still getting to grips with instagram. I sometimes feel a bit out of place there as it all seems very perfect! #TheList
I haven’t noticed a difference in my feed…yet. I don’t like the idea of someone else deciding what I should see either! #thelist
I don’t really use instagram enough to have noticed a difference since the algorithm was changed. I won’t be turning on notifications though as I have my phone beeping at me enough during the day as it is. If I feel like I haven’t seen an image from one of my favourites for a while I just go straight to their account. I try and like as many picture as I can on IG, not because I want them back because I think it’s good to share the love. Great post as always Aby xx #TheList
An informative post, thank you. I will be taking your tips on board. Mine is currently still chronological. #TheList
I’ll confess that to me IG was never anything more than a nice little time waster and not really a place I went to for a lot of engagement. I’m much more annoyed by the new FB algorithims that make it so hard to be seen without ponying up money
Great post Aby! I have not set up an IG account yet (I honestly don’t know how you keep up with all your social media accounts! Hats off to you!) but when I do I will be following your tips
I turned on a few notifications, realised I didn’t like them (notifications, not pictures) and turned them off again. I think I’m still going to love scrolling through my feed regardless of how it’s set up, I spend too much time on IG, way too much 😉 #TheList
Like you said, while this change isn’t everyone’s favorite, it’s so great to see people like you taking initiative and finding the advantages of this system! This change actually motivates me to spend more time on Instagram-something I should have been doing already! #TheList
I’ve stil not really got my head around Instagram so this is really helpful. But I do enjoy following you, you take such lovely photos #TheList
Really interesting post I have learnt so much about ig after reading this thanks for hosting #thelist
I’ve just reinstalled IG so I’ll see how it goes. But I probably won’t be turning notifications on for anyone else other than family for the reasons Tim has given. My phone battery can’t take it!
Oh there’s been such a furore about this hasn’t there! I do love IG and I hope they don’t change it too much – the simplicity of it has always appealed to me more than anything x
I love instagram but still getting to grips with it properly. Really well explained, feel like I know what is going on now! One of my aims for this year is to get my account up and running properly so will definitely be checking out more of your advice!
It actually doesn’t sound that bad the way you word it here. My worry is that the next step will be “pay to have your content seen” like on Facebook!
Debbie
I haven’t noticed much change other than seeing some pages I completely forgot about which is a good thing!! #thelist
Really useful post Aby thanks!