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It was always difficult to decipher the Instagram’s algorithm by its users but now the company itself is trying to make an attempt to explain how its algorithm works which also includes how it decides on what content is served to users on different parts of the app, and why some posts get more views than others and much more.
Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri explained in detail in a blog post that the biggest “misconception” is that the company uses only one algorithm to control what people see or don’t see on the app. But in reality, the company uses a “variety of algorithms, classifiers, and processes, each with its own purpose”, he explained.
Mosseri revealed that its true that Instagram did follow a chronological feed system when it was first launched in the year 2010, however it became impossible to see everything as more people joined Instagram. “By 2016, people were missing 70 percent of all their posts in Feed, including almost half of posts from their close connections,” he revealed, while explaining the company’s decision to change the chronological feed into a ranked feed.
The company basically uses “signals”, or information from posts, the people who uploaded them and a user’s preferences. These can range from anything like your tendency to like a video, where you’re browsing from (web or phone), the time the video was posted and importantly, how often you interact with a person’s post such as comments and likes. Instagram then makes predictions on how likely you are to spend a few seconds on a post, comment on it, like it, save it, and tap on the profile photo then pushes it up higher in your news feed.
Instagram also shows you less post from the same user in a row, so that you won’t witness too many similar images. Similarly, it also used to de-prioritise Stories which have been re-shared from a user’s News Feed, but now it prioritizes it after seeing the importance of reshared stories during moments of social unrest or social events like the World Cup.
Similarly, the Explore section is governed by a different algorithm and signals based on what kinds of photos and videos a user is interested in. As for example, if a user has liked a series of posts from a chef, the Explore tab will look at posts from people who liked the same photos and show you posts from related accounts.
The company also follows Recommendations Guidelines that could upset users, and doesn't allow posts that promote use of tobacco products etc on the Explore tab.
Instagram has also discussed its highly controversial “shadowbanning”, and explained, “we recognize that we haven’t always done enough to explain why we take down content when we do, what is recommendable and what isn’t, and how Instagram works more broadly.”
The company also says that it handles millions of user reports a day on the platform, and that it “can’t promise you that you’ll consistently reach the same amount of people when you post. The truth is most of your followers won’t see what you share, because most look at less than half of their Feed.”
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