Hashtags do not help Instagram posts get more views, chief executive reveals

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Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri has revealed that adding hashtags to posts are not likely to help users receive more views on videos.

Speaking on his own Instagram page, where Mr Mosseri answers questions from users about the social media site, a user asked whether “hashtags help views”.

Mr Mosseri replied: “Not really. They do help us to understand what a post is about which means it might be more likely to show up in a place like a hashtag page for instance, but in general no, I wouldn’t try and think of hashtags as a way to try and get more distribution.”

This new information adds to a wealth of knowledge users are building about exactly how the platform works and what to look out for.

In 2018, it was revealed that the way Instagram’s algorithm ranks who shows up first in Instagram Story views does not relate to who has been on a users’ profile the most – despite a long assumption that that was the case.

“So the answer is, the people that show up on that list are not the people that stalk you the most - it is actually based on your activity and the people that you are closest to,” said Instagram product lead Julian Gutman.

The algorithm reflects likes, comments, direct messages, and other interactions on the app, and adapts to your habits to show users the content the company feels users will want to see most.

Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Instagram parent company Meta, also announced this week that NFTs will soon be coming to Instagram.

“We’re working on bringing NFTs to Instagram in the near term," the Facebook founder said at the SXSW conference in Texas.

"I’m not ready to kind of announce exactly what that’s going to be today. But over the next several months, the ability to bring some of your NFTs in, hopefully over time be able to mint things within that environment.”