Instagram is adding two new feeds to the app, and updating the existing home feed with more content from accounts you don’t already follow.
To counterbalance the additional content you didn’t opt-in to seeing, Instagram is bringing back the chronological feed which only contains content from followed accounts.
The other feed Instagram is introducing is similar to Twitter’s lists, in that it allows you to curate the accounts you want to see content from.
Here are more details about the updates coming to Instagram, which are said to give users more control over their experience.
Updates To Instagram’s Home Feed
In an update that’s confirmed to be rolling out soon, and is already available in testing for select users, the Instagram app is going to contain three types of feeds.
The three feeds include:
- Home: This is the Instagram experience you know today where content is ranked algorithmically based on how interested you’re likely to be in specific posts.
- Favorites: This feed contains content from accounts that you want to make sure you don’t miss things from. You can choose which accounts appear in this feed, kind of like Twitter lists.
- Following: This is a chronological list of posts just from accounts you follow.
Screenshot from: Twitter.com/Mosseri, January 2022.
In a video published by Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, the two new feeds are previewed and details are shared regarding changes to the existing home feed.
Mosseri says these changes are being made in an effort to help people feel good about the time they spend in the app.
He believes giving people ways to customize their Instagram feed can create a more positive experience.
At the same time, however, the main feed is going to stray further away from the content people have opted into.
This is stated while Mosseri is describing the new ‘Following’ feed. He says (emphasis mine):
“… The third we’re calling ‘Following’ — and it’ll be a chronological list of posts just from accounts you follow, because Home is going to have more and more recommendations over time.”
That’s good news when it comes to content discovery, as it creates the potential for accounts to get in front of more people and build an audience.
Though it could lead to a worse experience if people suddenly find they’re not getting enough of the content they want to see when they open the Instagram app.
At least they’ll be able to quickly switch over to either the Favorites or Following feeds from an easily accessible drop down menu.
As mentioned, these are already available in testing for some users. Mosseri says he hopes the full experience will launch in the first half of this year.
Source:
Testing Feed Changes
We’re starting to test the ability to switch between three different views on your home screen (two of which would give you the option to see posts in chronological order):
– Home
– Favorites
– FollowingWe hope to launch these soon. More to come. pic.twitter.com/9zvB85aPSp
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) January 5, 2022
Featured Image: Camilo Concha/Shutterstock
