On March 15th, Instagram announced that they are following the likes of Twitter and Facebook and implementing an algorithm that will mean that posts are no longer presented in chronological order.

In a blog post announcing the change, Instagram explained that “people miss on average 70% of their feeds because, as the platform grew it has become harder to keep up with everything posted.”

To help combat this, the algorithm will calculate the likelihood that we will be interested in something based on our past interactions with content, our relationship with the person posting it, and the timeliness of the post. For now, all the posts you would usually find in your feed will still be there, just in a different order.

Since this announcement, there have been lots of posts by brands asking people to turn on post notifications. This means whenever they post something new, users will receive a notification:

However, there has been a backlash against requests for turning on notifications given that your mobile is no doubt already buzzing and bleeping with hundreds of other notifications and it doesn’t necessarily solve the problem.

What you need to do

Firstly, Instagram isn’t immediately changing things. To reassure users, they tweeted the following this week:

We’re listening and we assure you nothing is changing with your feed right now. We promise to let you know when changes roll out broadly.

— Instagram (@instagram) March 28, 2016

On the changes to Instagram, our Social Media & Content Consultant, said “Brands need to accept that algorithms are beginning to dominate every major digital channel. The impact of Instagram’s algorithm is that brands are likely to see a drop in visibility and engagement – which will impact their web traffic and ultimately revenue.

While Instagram is still testing this new feature, we recommend you use this time to review your content and social media strategy. Gain insight into what content your audience likes and focus on improving engagement rates rather than just posting content on the platform.

We also recommend looking into running Instagram adverts to improve the reach of key posts e.g. those promoting a sale or new product launch.

Please do get in touch if you’d like advice on your Instagram strategy.