Read the article here:
Here’s the SMP summary
Instagram doesn’t have a singular algorithm
Each part of the app – Feed, Stories, Explore, Reels, Search and more – uses its own algorithm tailored to how people use it.
Close Friends, Favorites and Following help you customize your experience
Feed (your personalized home base within Instagram)
Has a mix of content from accounts you follow, recommended content from accounts IG thinks you’ll enjoy, and ads.
See a mixture of videos, photos and carousels.
IG considers recent posts shared by the people you follow, plus posts from accounts you don’t already follow that IG thinks you might be interested in.
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Interested in based on factors including what and whom you’ve followed, liked or engaged with recently.
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IG balances between content from accounts you follow with content from accounts you don’t follow but might be interested in.
Then consider other factors called signals – ex. if you prefer photos, we’ll show you more photos
Signals are prioritized based on this importance:
- Your activity.
- Information about the post.
- Information about the person who posted.
- Your history of interacting with someone.
Then IG makes predictions
5 interactions IG looks at most closely are–more likely you will do one of these you will see it higher in your Feed:
- spend a few seconds on a post
- comment on it
- like it
- share it
- tap on the profile photo.
IG also recently published guidelines for content lowered in Feed and Stories
How IG ranks Stories
Stories are everyday moments from people you follow as well as ads
Stories are ranked on:
- Viewing history from an account
- Engagement history
- Closeness
IG makes predictions determine which stories to show higher based on:
- how likely you are to tap on a story
- reply to a story
- move on to next story
Explore
The article covers Explore too…read article for extensive details
Reels
most are from accounts you don’t follow
designed to emphasize entertainment
IG looks at:
- how likely you are to reshare a reel
- watch a reel
- like a reel
- got to the audio page
Signals include
- your activity
- your history of interacting with the person who posted
- info about reel
- info about the person who posted
YOU CAN INFLUENCE WHAT YOU SEE!!!
- use favorites list so you don’t miss content – it appears higher
- you can snooze all suggested posts for 30 days
- pick close friends–you can share with just the closest to you
- you can mute people
- you can unfollow someone
- answer IG surveys
- indicate not interested
- hide suggested posts proactively
- use 3 dots to see why you are seeing content
Shadowbanning
Addressed in article
- they don’t suppress content, so you buy ads
- they believe everyone should see the content they want to see
- IG is working to increase transparency
- If something is wrong with your content you should be able to know about it and appeal
- Use Account Status feature
- IG is trying to show creators why Reels aren’t getting as much distribution to non-followers
- Working on notifications when reach is limited due to watermark
- More tools are coming
- Check out their Creator Lab