Instagram revealed today how it organizes users’ feeds, including how it considers different factors in its algorithm. Up until now, Instagram’s feed was sort of a mystery science. Posts from family members and close friends show up near the top, which was the goal of the company’s decision to move away from the reverse-chronological feed in 2016, but the way the app filled in the blanks between those close friends was slightly mysterious.
Instagram users were missing 70 percent of all posts and 50 percent of their friends’ posts before the app ditched the reverse chronological feed for an algorithm in July 2016. Despite backlash about confusing ordering, Instagram now says relevancy sorting has led to its 800 million-plus users seeing 90 percent of their friends’ posts and spending more time on the app.
Instagram says the changes have been effective. Users had been missing half of what their friends posted, the company says. But displaying posts by relevance has led its more than 800 million users to see 90 percent of their friends’ posts, and to spend more time on the app, according to TechCrunch and other publications briefed on the matter.
Three main factors determine what you see in your Instagram feed:
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