For Many Users, Instagram Algorithm Is Not a Pretty Picture

What's bugging some Instagram users is a proposed change in how the service sorts content sent to their feeds. Instead of content appearing chronologically, user preferences, based on an algorithm devised by Instagram, would determine placement of content.

People miss on average 70 percent of their feeds, Instagram said earlier this month.

The company's growth has made it harder to keep up with all the photos and videos people share, so users often don't see the posts that are most important to them, it said.

To improve the experience, the order of photos and videos in users' feeds will be based on the likelihood that they will be interested in the content, their relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post, Instagram said.

All posts will still be available but in a different order, it added.

Mixed Reactions

A petition to "Keep Instagram Chronological" had garnered more than 330,000 signatures as of Wednesday.

"If you do not want your feed to be presented in an order that you don't have any control over and would prefer to have it presented in the current chronological format or — at least — have the choice to sort your feed the way you want, please sign the petition," Sarah Heard, the petition's author.

Power users of the service also have shown concern over the proposed change, according to Andreas Scherer, managing partner with Salto Partners.

"They've urged their followers to turn on notifications so that their updates are not missed," he told TechNewsWorld.

"Essentially, anytime this Instagram celebrity would post a picture, the followers will get pinged on their phone," Scherer said. "It's easy to see that even the most enthusiastic Instagram users will get turned off by this very quickly."

Advertising Play

A similar change adopted by Instagram's parent, Facebook, ultimately had an impact on advertisers.

In order to achieve more favorable placement, companies were required to purchase Facebook's advertising services, Pund-IT Principal Analyst Charles King explained.

"Companies that depend on Instagram to drive recognition and revenues will be hard-pressed not to buy in," he told TechNewsWorld.

"After what happened when Facebook switched to algorithm-based feeds, it's certainly not something that small business' will want!" wrote petition author Heard.

Just as the proposed change is supposed to put more desirable content in front of user eyeballs, it may do the same for advertising.

"Instagram will be able to give high-quality, targeted advertising to its users," said Elizabeth Lampert, president of Elizabeth Lampert PR.

"The revenue from ads is definitely one plausible explanation for building the algorithm," she told TechNewsWorld.

 

 

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