What You Need To Know About Instagram's New Algorithm and Feed Change
With Instagram’s new algorithm ready to roll out to the masses any day now I’ve been thinking how effective, or ineffective, our old ways of sharing photos on the platform will be. Also with all of my recent experiences and research I’ve also been thinking about why my own photos show up in Top Post but not for other people. Instagram is my main social platform bringing in almost half of my blog traffic so I decided to do a little research about Instagram’s new algorithms and what it means for us.
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Why You’re Not Really in the Top Post
Recently we learned, not to my surprise, that our Top Post for certain hashtags are not universal, instead they are different for every user. So if you’ve been seeing your photos in the top post for a certain hashtag you might be the only one. Think of it like a Google search. When you search something in Google the results are different depending on whether or not you are logged into your Google + account. This is because while you’re browsing the web information about what sites you visit is logged and they use this information to give you more relevant searches. Almost all sites use this info, Google, Yahoo and even Youtube. Instagram is the same way. Data about what photos you like is logged and used to give you better search results. Since we all probably spend a lot of time on our own feeds we are more likely to see our post in the Top Post for a certain hashtag. This explains why your post is in the top for you and not your best friend or clients.
Why You Should Stop Posting So Much
Being able to gather some entail from people who have been lucky enough to have Instagram’s new algorithm bestowed upon them, I’ve learned that they are actually seeing a limited amount of photos in their feeds. One person mentioned that he had been seeing the same photos all week. So the time that those people actually posted the photo doesn’t seem to matter. In Instagram’s current algorithm posting multiple times a day was effective because it meant more people had the opportunity to see your photos. With the new algorithm I fear this will no longer be the case. Better quality photos and content will be more important than ever than with Instagram’s new Algorithm.
Since I have yet to experience Instagram’s new algorithm I can’t say this for certain but there is a good chance it will really help some accounts with high engagement and good quality photos explode into stardom while others will be left behind with no hope of recovering. Engaging with other accounts will most likely be your life boat. Use this as a reason to step up your game. Start producing better more thoughtful content and you’ll do just fine in this new world of Instagram.