Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri posted a new video i blog entry explaining how Instagram’s algorithm works for stories, feeds, reels, and exploration.
In addition to ranking, it contains more information about shadowbanning, reviewing your account status, and best practices for growing an Instagram audience.
The following is an update to the original video about the Instagram algorithm 2021.
It’s more than an algorithm
The first point Mosseri makes is that the Instagram algorithm is not an algorithm, but many algorithms and processes that work together to personalize the content that each Instagram user sees.
Why does Instagram use algorithms? Since every individual is different, every Instagram user should see content that matches their interests.
This is what Instagram hopes to achieve through ranking: a personalized experience that keeps users engaged on the Instagram platform for longer periods of time.
Ranking Stories: How the Instagram Stories Algorithm Works
When you open the Instagram app, the first thing you see at the top is a row of the latest stories from the accounts you follow.
To determine which stories appear first, Instagram analyzes all the stories of those you follow in the last 24 hours. The goal is to decide which stories interest you the most through proxies (guessing).
Instagram wants to predict which stories you’re likely to open, reply to, react to, or like.
To make these predictions, Instagram uses signals: past interactions you’ve had with Stories. The main signals that affect the order of stories in your Instagram app include the following:
How often do you view Stories by an author (account/creator). How often do you interact with Stories by an author? How close you are to an author based on how many times you’ve messaged them.
Instagram hopes that ranking Stories using custom proxies, signals, and predictions will ultimately put Stories in front of the people you care about most.
Feed Ranking: How the Instagram Feed Algorithm Works
The Instagram Feed aims to bring users up to date with the best content posted since they last used the app.
It will include a mix of content from those you follow and Instagram accounts you might be interested in based on a series of predictions.
These predictions are based on the following main signals:
How likely are you to comment, like or share the post. How likely are you to touch the profile. How long are you likely to spend on the post?
Instagram uses your interaction history, post popularity, author information, and how often you’ve interacted with the author to determine the order in which content appears.
You can shape the content of your feed by designating your own favorite accounts, which would place posts from those accounts at the top of the feed. You can also switch to the following feed, which will only show posts from accounts you follow chronologically.
Instagram screenshot, May 2023
Reel Ranking: How the Instagram Reel Algorithm Works
The purpose of Instagram Reels is to entertain users. Instagram serves Reels primarily from accounts you don’t follow.
First, Instagram looks at the reels you’ve interacted with in the past and the reels other users like you have liked.
Then guess which reels you’ll most likely watch to the end, share with friends, or visit the audio page for your own content creation efforts.
To make these guesses, Instagram uses signals such as the history of the reels you’ve viewed, information about the reel, information about the reel’s author, and how often you’ve interacted with the author.
This combines to create an immersive, entertaining and delicious tab.
Ranking Crawl: How Instagram’s Crawl Algorithm Works
Like Reels, Instagram Explore aims to serve up the best content from accounts you don’t follow to help you discover new things to be interested in on Instagram.
Instagram predicts the posts you’re likely to like, save or share.
It uses signals like the popularity of the post, the topics they tend to be interested in, information about the author, and how often you’ve interacted with the author.
Shadowbanning and account statuses
In addition to explaining how ranking works in various areas of Instagram, Mosseri also wanted to talk about shadow and debunk a popular myth about it.
Some creators feel they’ve been shadow-banned when their content doesn’t get the expected or desired reach.
While there is speculation that Instagram reduces the reach of accounts to “encourage” them to pay for advertising, Mosseri says that’s a myth.
He explained that it’s in Instagram’s best interest to connect people with the most exciting content possible to increase time spent on the app and ultimately increase ad revenue.
To help users, Instagram created a Account Status section that describes the reasons why Instagram may limit an account’s visibility on the platform.
Instagram screenshot, May 2023
How to grow your Instagram audience
Mosseri concluded the video by sharing the following best practices to help you grow your audience and reach on Instagram.
Because every creator and every audience is different, it’s important to experiment to see what content will generate the most engagement from your audience. Use Insights to reveal trends that will help you improve the overall quality and user engagement with your content. Collaborate with other popular creators in your niche to reach new audiences with original content. Please review your account status to ensure that you have taken the necessary steps to follow community guidelines and remove any limitations on your visibility. Try to create original content instead of aggregating content from others.
Do you have questions? Mosers invites Instagram followers to participate in regular AMAs about Instagram via Stories.
Featured image: Kaspars Grinvalds/Shutterstock
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