Instagram to show newer posts first two years after controversial feed change
Instagram is to change the way its feed shows photos to provide more posts in chronological order two years after it ditched its timeline-style photo feed.
The Facebook-owned photo-sharing app will now show users newer posts first, although the feed will still be partly algorithm-driven and will still show some posts out of order.
The changes aren't a total u-turn, but will see more recent posts surfacing at the top of the app. "Based on your feedback, we’re also making changes to ensure that newer posts are more likely to appear first in feed," Instagram said. "With these changes, your feed will feel more fresh, and you won’t miss the moments you care about."
Instagram initially showed photos based on when they were posted in a time-ordered feed, but in 2016 made changes to its app so that some more popular posts would show up first or posts that users might have missed. This meant posts from a celebrity might appear at the top, rather than a blurry, night-out snap from a friend.
The move prompted a backlash from Instagram fans but didn't stop the rapid growth of Instagram, which now has around 800 million monthly active users.
At the time, Instagram's move to an non-chronological feed mirrored moves by Facebook, which changed its News Feed to display posts tailored to the user, and Twitter, which was well-known for its minute-by-minute updates.
Instagram also said it was testing a "New Posts" button, which would let users refresh their whole feed rather than letting it happen automatically. Despite these changes, Instagram has confirmed the changes are not a full return to the chronological feed. "We made a number of changes, including an adjustment so that very old content does not get bumped up higher in feed," a spokesman said.
Here’s what people really want from tech:
• Instagram – chronological timeline
• Spotify – let us block artists
• Amazon – don’t create an inescapable surveillance panopticon
• Facebook – don’t end democracy
• Snap – more filters— Tiffany C. Li (@tiffanycli) March 18, 2018
- What do we want ?
- A chronological instagram feed !
- When do we want it ?
- 2 hours ago !
- 18 hours ago !
- Sponsored post !
- 43 minutes ago !
- 2 hours ago !
- Sponsored post !
- 15 minutes ago !
- Account suggestion !
- 1 hour ago !
- 15 hours ago !
- Sponsored post !— Neon Trotski (@Bluecookie) March 15, 2018
The changes to how Instagram works, which is more popular with younger users than Facebook, come after a challenging week for the social media giant over revelations of how user data was shared with third-party apps.
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