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Instagram today announced that it's making changes to the Instagram feed algorithm to address concerns users have had with the feed for quite some time now.

Instagram originally used a chronological feed, showing the newest Instagram posts first when you opened up the app, but the company changed that in June of 2016 to display posts based on relevancy. The change caused days-old posts to be displayed in some situations, which users were unhappy with.

Starting today, Instagram is planning to focus more on surfacing newer posts, a change the company is making based on user feedback. It won't be the same as the original chronological feed, but Instagram says new posts will show up first.
Based on your feedback, we're also making changes to ensure that newer posts are more likely to appear first in feed. With these changes, your feed will feel more fresh, and you won't miss the moments you care about. So if your best friend shares a selfie from her vacation in Australia, it will be waiting for you when you wake up.
Instagram is also disabling the feature that causes the Instagram feed to automatically refresh. Instead, Instagram is testing a "New Posts" button that will let users decide when to refresh a feed.
Tap the button and you'll be taken to new posts at the top of feed -- don't tap, and you'll stay where you are. We hope this makes browsing Instagram much more enjoyable.
Instagram says additional feed improvements will be introduced over the course of the next few months.

Article Link: Instagram Turns Off Auto Feed Refresh, Changes Feed Algorithm to Focus on Newer Posts
 
It won't be the same as the original chronological feed, but Instagram says new posts will show up first.
They haven't really fixed it, they're just tweaking the algorithm to be a little less stupid. I really want the option to go back to a purely time-based feed, instead of them trying to "customize" it for me.

But yeah, the auto-refresh thing can go straight to hell and I'm glad it's gone.
 
FINALLY! Non-chronological feeds never made sense in a user engagement standpoint. Glad they’re making this change and hope others follow as well.
 
I like it. I am glad they listened to users.

They haven't.

FINALLY! Non-chronological feeds never made sense in a user engagement standpoint. Glad they’re making this change and hope others follow as well.

They, as ignatius345 pointed out, haven't made any change. It's still an algorithm. Since it's facebook, they'll never give users what they ask for.
 
I love how backtracking on (stupid and unwanted) new features is now their version of a “new feature”.

Aside from cloning Snapchat features and becoming more clever about serving more and more ads - to the annoyance of most users and acclaim of advertisers - what the f has instagram done that’s worthwhile in the past few years?
 
I wonder if this has anything to do with the mass exodus of photographers to Vero which has a chronological feed.

has this exodus been a thing though? A lot of artists I follow went to Vero but within weeks came back, citing that it was awful.

I'm glad Instagram is making this small change, but it's still no excuse for not giving user the option to go full chronological. It continues to baffle me what companies need to do this...what are they getting out of a non-chronological view?
 
I really don't understand why they don't want us to have a chronological order. Is there some monetary angle here? I can't imagine what it could be.

Yes, screen time is money in this business. Learning algorithms are able to track what types of content you're most likely to stop and look at or engage in and adjust your feed on the fly accordingly. The point of these algorithms are to get you to spend more of your time looking at the screen on their respective platforms.

I personally don't use any social media platform that doesn't at least offer an option for chronological ordering.
 
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has this exodus been a thing though? A lot of artists I follow went to Vero but within weeks came back, citing that it was awful.

I'm glad Instagram is making this small change, but it's still no excuse for not giving user the option to go full chronological. It continues to baffle me what companies need to do this...what are they getting out of a non-chronological view?

What are they getting? Control. Advertisers don’t want their ads unpredictably inserted among your friends’ food and unflattering selfie photos. They’re willing to pay more to be put in your feed amongst the most popular, viral and aesthetically pleasing user generated content, one big reason being that it’s harder for you to differentiate professionally produced ads from more highly polished content from the accounts you follow, thus you’re less likely to speed past the ad. It’s all about real estate: location, location, location.

The more Instagram can control the feed to please the advertisers, the more they’ll pay. Simple as that.
 
Yes, screen time is money in this business. Learning algorithms are able to track what types of content you're most likely to stop and look at or engage in and adjust your feed on the fly accordingly. The point of these algorithms are to get you to spend more of your time looking at the screen on their respective platforms.

I personally don't use any social media platform that doesn't at least offer an option for chronological ordering.


Right, so they want to make us mad by forcing us to continue searching down the line for things we think we might have missed to look at more ads. I feel like there are better ways to do it. I would even look at more ads if i could just have a straight line order.
 
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Yes glad they're getting rid of the auto refresh.

Also why can't they give us the option for chronological???

Heck even Facebook still has the "most recent" option for viewing your news feed.

Sure it always defaults back to the default setting but at least I have the option.
 
Right, so they want to make us mad by forcing us to continue searching down the line for things we think we might have missed to look at more ads. I feel like there are better ways to do it. I would even look at more ads if i could just have a straight line order.

Yeah I actually completely agree with you here. I think it's an end-user hostile approach.
 
Right, so they want to make us mad by forcing us to continue searching down the line for things we think we might have missed to look at more ads. I feel like there are better ways to do it. I would even look at more ads if i could just have a straight line order.
Yeah, makes sense. I had a hard time finding new stuff my friends posted, so I stopped looking at the feed.
 
Right, so they want to make us mad by forcing us to continue searching down the line for things we think we might have missed to look at more ads. I feel like there are better ways to do it. I would even look at more ads if i could just have a straight line order.

It makes *you* mad, and many of us here who actually consider the design and how it could be better implemented to please everyone.

But we are not the average user who just mindlessly laps up the gruel facebook and Instagram feed them without a second thought about how it’s ordered. It’s the unfortunate reality.

Another thing to always bear in mind is that we are not the customers, so why in the world would they do anything to suit our preferences unless it was absolutely unavoidable. We are the product, to be continually manipulated and to extract the maximum value from as it pertains to pleasing their actual customers- the advertisers.

As long as the user base keeps growing at a healthy pace (it is), then they have absolutely no incentive to appease the vocal minority.

Actually, it may make more sense for them to drive away the (usually early adopter) crowd who may sow the seeds of discontent in the broader base of sheeple who followed them into the black hole of attention. We served our initial purpose and now our complaints probably aren’t worth the annual $26 per user Facebook makes off of us, if we’re gonna complain about the meal in front of others.

It’s for these reasons and ones related to privacy that I stopped using facebook and later instagram, and simultaneously bought a ton of FB stock. They used me, so I might as well use them!
 
Not from what I’ve seen. Maybe nobody looks at YOUR account. Seem to be many togs building up a good following.
Well no, the problem is I went on, and there was nobody I knew on there. And everyone I know uses some social network. Besides that, the app layout just sucks, and there's nothing different from the existing sites.
 
Never even noticed any auto refresh lol but what I like is that I still ain’t got no ads! and the annoying „3 suggested posts in a row“ in my feed seems to have gone away too

I wonder if this has anything to do with the mass exodus of photographers to Vero which has a chronological feed.

Vero is run by some shady CEO so I cannot support that in any way
 
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It makes *you* mad, and many of us here who actually consider the design and how it could be better implemented to please everyone.

But we are not the average user who just mindlessly laps up the gruel facebook and Instagram feed them without a second thought about how it’s ordered. It’s the unfortunate reality.

Another thing to always bear in mind is that we are not the customers, so why in the world would they do anything to suit our preferences unless it was absolutely unavoidable. We are the product, to be continually manipulated and to extract the maximum value from as it pertains to pleasing their actual customers- the advertisers.

As long as the user base keeps growing at a healthy pace (it is), then they have absolutely no incentive to appease the vocal minority.

Actually, it may make more sense for them to drive away the (usually early adopter) crowd who may sow the seeds of discontent in the broader base of sheeple who followed them into the black hole of attention. We served our initial purpose and now our complaints probably aren’t worth the annual $26 per user Facebook makes off of us, if we’re gonna complain about the meal in front of others.

It’s for these reasons and ones related to privacy that I stopped using facebook and later instagram, and simultaneously bought a ton of FB stock. They used me, so I might as well use them!


You are right. Since end users are not actually customers, we don't really matter to them... at all. The only reason they changed things here is because they found a better way to make money off of it. And that's fine because they need to make money. I just really want to know what their dirty algorithms are that make more money for them when posts are out of order.
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You are right. Since end users are not actually customers, we don't really matter to them... at all. The only reason they changed things here is because they found a better way to make money off of it. And that's fine because they need to make money. I just really want to know what their dirty algorithms are that make more money for them when posts are out of order.

I shouldn't say they don't care about us at all... they really hope we click on their ads.
 
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