Instagram Is Changing – What Does This Mean For You?
Instagram is changing its algorithm to predict which photos are most relevant to its users. At the moment its been selectively tested, however many are up in arms at the very idea of change. This concern is shared by people who fear that they’ll lose interest from their followers and see a decrease in people viewing their content.
Many are criticizing instagram that it’ll favour larger instagram accounts and paid advertisements demanding attention. Some are even encouraging their followers to turn on the notifications button in the hopes to ‘bypass’ the change.
But is this really the case?
Looking at social media trends, the push towards tailored content to peoples’ feeds are nothing new. When Facebook changed their algorithm that affected peoples’ newsfeeds, this did little to deter their growth with a billion people checking the site everyday. The change has been so integrated into the way users interact with it that few would independently comment on how the change has negatively impacted their user experience (http://time.com/4273531/instagram-algorithm/).
As instagram grows and recognizes the potential of its influence on over 400 million users worldwide, this move seems quite logical seeing that many of its social media competitors are headed in the same direction, and it makes sense. On Instagram’s own blog it sited that “people miss on average 70 percent of their feeds” (http://blog.instagram.com/post/141107034797/160315-news).
Their algorithm will change how your posts are ordered, but will not hide stories from your newsfeed based on their size of influence. “If your favorite musician shares a video from last night’s concert, it will be waiting for you when you wake up, no matter how many accounts you follow or what time zone you live in,” the company wrote in its blog post. “And when your best friend posts a photo of her new puppy, you won’t miss it.” (http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/instagram-feeds-to-go-out-of-order-showing-pictures-according-to-relevance-rather-than-time-using-a6933926.html).
Social media thrives on real time engagement, and people are becoming more and more demanding of their services. Not only do consumers want faster response times, but they’re also demanding for faster access to real-time offline events like live streaming video. With the success of apps like Periscope and Meerkat in 2015, Instagram has its ear to the ground with the intent to stay relevant with more attentive, user friendly and real-time interaction between users and businesses.
Tailoring content on their news feeds will have a positive impact for social commerce, with social media being directly responsible for $3.3 billion in sales (https://www.internetretailer.com/2015/07/07/why-social-media-holds-more-sway-over-shoppers-buying-decisions). With research pointing towards social media being more influential to shopper’s buying decisions than retail websites, more and more commerce-focused features are becoming available to businesses. This led to Instagram launching their action-oriented ad formats in 2015 (http://blog.business.instagram.com/post/120537653811/the-next-steps-for-ads-on-instagram-new-formats).
The world is changing and how we interact with one another is changing too. Instagram is just reflecting this change, so chill guys. It’s all going to be ok.
ABOUT THIS ARTICLE Instagram is changing its algorithm to predict which photos are most relevant to its users.
March 30th, 2016 - Posted by
Nik Ranger
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**The views in this article are those of the author
