On the heels of what can only be described (by me) as notification-palooza, I thought I’d share why the new algorithm based feed from Instagram does not have me freaking out, and why I’m not (yet!) turning on notifications for ANY accounts that I follow.
1. The VERY last thing I need more of in my life is notifications. My phone already alerts me to the things I NEED to do: appointments, scheduled phone calls, Mayhem’s gymnastics class, giving Moxie her heartworm meds, etc. Most of these things would be forgotten without said notifications, and therefore, I’m super duper grateful for these notifications. BUT, I have ZERO notifications turned on for my social media apps. Truth. Because the last thing I need is to be more distracted by social media than I already am when I open these apps. So, if I were to turn on notifications for all of my favorite accounts, my phone will ding each and every time one of those accounts posts something new. Ummmmm, I just can’t…
2. I don’t hate change. Stay with me here. I totally get that most people are super adverse to change and I’m going to be among the minority in my feelings on this, but I’m kind of intrigued to see the changes. I believe that most of the info being spread about the changes are very fear based and misleading. People are in a panic thinking that no one is ever going to see their posts anymore and my understanding is that couldn’t be further from the truth. As I read it, the content that YOU engage with most is the type of content that may pop up in YOUR feed first … followed by a chronological feed of everything you follow. So let’s say the accounts that I engage with (like and comment on) which happen to be friends and my favorite Instagrammers have posted something overnight while I was sleeping (and they were leading much more exciting lives). Now, when I hop onto Instagram in the morning, the first few posts I see are a few of my fav accounts, and then everything else follows as it normally would. Can I be honest for a second? I think I’m going to LOVE that. And seeing posts from accounts that I really enjoy the most FIRST is not going to stop me from scrolling back through to see what else I missed. I’m still going to see what everyone is up to. But seeing some of my favs at the top of my feed could be a welcome change.
3. It’s not actually a popularity contest. Or at least I don’t see it that way. I could be wrong. Very very wrong. And trust me, those with a substantial following would certainly have a LOT to lose if it is indeed a popularity contest. My hope is that YOU will see what YOU engage with the most first. So if you engage more with your friends and family than you do with our content, you may see posts from your friends and family before you see our stuff. Even if we posted more recently. What I don’t believe will happen is that content will just disappear into the ether … never to be seen at all. I could be wrong. Very very wrong. But I think it’s a great move on Instagram’s part … choosing to show you what YOU choose to engage with the most FIRST. And I’m pretty sure that this doesn’t mean that stuff that OTHER people engage with most is going to show up in YOUR feed first.
So what does this mean for you? I’m going to let you in on something I know for sure (and you probably do to). I know that a lot of people who make any kind of income from Instagram (us included) pay attention to days of the week and time of day for posting sponsored content. Which means that sponsored content is often geared toward the days and hours when the statistics show that the biggest audience is on and engaged with Instagram. I know that I’ve personally seen that certain days and hours are now LOADED with paid for content. And I think Instagram obviously knows it too. And I think maybe they want to shake things up a little to keep the integrity of people seeing what they want to see (first) before an endless stream of content optimized for your eyes at that given time.
I could be wrong. Very very wrong. But I’m going to have a little faith, let them work through the kinks, and believe that the folks at Instagram really do have the best interest of the end user in mind. And that if you’re enjoying what you see from us, you’ll continue to see it. But I guess only time will really tell.
Thoughts? Are you freaking out about the changes, or are you hanging in there and waiting to see what happens?
Love your explanation but I will admit yours was the third account I made sure to turn notifications on for. ???
too funny! We’re flattered. Really 🙂
I appreciate your point of view, but for me it’s the out of order that I don’t like. I had to leave Facebook a few years ago because of that. It makes me feel anxious because I can’t control the new to oldest. Which is how I need to see my news stories, etc. just my point of view about it!
I am guessing you had no idea that Facebook gives you the option to choose to have your feed chronological or with the top posts first. I like my Facebook chronological, but there are times when I just don’t have time to scroll a few days worth so I change it to top posts and just let go everything else I missed. I may be crazy to think this, but since they are the same company now, I think Instagram will probably give that option to users as well.
I agree! Although I know Facebook does have the option to view your feed in chronological order (not sure how long it’s been there), the default is whatever algorithm they have in place. That would help if Instagram were to provide such an option as well! So those like you and I could opt for the regular view.
As the others mentioned, maybe a possibility of switching between chronological and algorithm based will be an option, like it is on Facebook. But again, I don’t think Instagram is just going to show you a bunch of nonsense (that you don’t want to see) completely out of order and context and NOT show you stuff from people you follow. While they may be under the same ownership, I do think Instagram still differs from Facebook and they can’t (because of the simplicity of the interface on Instagram) simply do the same thing with it.
I agree! I hate having notifications to my social media accounts (unless its messages) since it’s very distracting and not so healthy. Plus, I’m still waiting for the actual change. Maybe it’s not bad, or hopefully it’s nothing too drastic. People are going crazy over the change in their likes and all that. Chill dudes
Chill dudes is right. The sky is not falling. And more notifications is simply not the answer. PS- I like that you say it’s not healthy <--couldn't agree more!
I work in digital marketing for the entertainment industry and we’ve been having long convos about the Instagram algorithm for several weeks now because it obviously affects our job and how we do our job…but I have to say, you hit the nail on the head with this post! Very well-said and a great reminder that people need to calm down and embrace the change 🙂 (Twitter rolled out a similar algorithm recently and the world hasn’t ended yet)
Yeah, we’ve definitely had some conversations with our management team over here too, and for some reason, I’m just not in a panic about it. I think it’s because I still believe that the end user doesn’t go to Instagram to be marketed to (please don’t take offense to that as none is meant!!) or at least I don’t, and I know I’m seeing SO VERY MUCH “paid for” content in my feed, that there is less appeal to even open up Instagram. Don’t get me wrong – there are people out there who are doing a TERRIFIC job creating really cool and engaging sponsored stories, but I’m also seeing so many who are clearly doing it for a quick dollar and without any thought as to whether the story they’re telling is a good fit for their audience.
We’re super selective about what we promote on Instagram and we’re well aware that having those eyeballs is earned and not a right. So while it may be a challenge to the way business is being done right now (for many – us included), I think it’s just the inevitable evolution of things. Find new ways to tell compelling stories … rinse … repeat 🙂 And try not to pull our hair out in the process 😉
I’m with you! I also don’t get notifications for any social media because then I would never put my phone down.
I mostly use Instagram to follow people I know in real life (although a few I like, including your posts have snuck through). I started using IG because it felt more personal than Facebook (as it got more commercial) although now everything is commercial. Not bad, it just is what it is…
Yes!!! It would be a never ending distraction for me as well!
I still love Instagram because I think that people (at least for the people I follow) care about what they post. They don’t generally throw up things they’re angry about (like on FB) and it’s usually a positive/happy space.
I have to admit I kinda wanted to see what the changes would be too. If they’re as you say, I’d be fine with them. Good thinking.
I have no insider knowledge whatsoever, but I feel like lots of people make assumptions about the changes without any knowledge of how it will actually work. Just throwing my two cents out there as to how the changes could potentially make the experience *gasp* better 😉
This very level headed and insightful (part why I enjoy your feef so much). The problem for me is I only follow accounts I want to see pictures from and who post at a frequency I enjoy, an algorithm messes with a thing that works (like the mess the explore page is now). I love how depending on where in the world people are depends on when they post, I wake up to pictures from Europe and go to bed with pictures from Australia and Asia. I don’t tend to interact with pictures posted by people I don’t know personally but I do follow a selection who’s photos and captions I enjoy. I don’t want to be lambasted with my friends drunken selfies (that I dutifully like) over gorgeous far off lanscapes, recipies and cute kids. Instagram is self currated by the user as the decided whovto follow and who to kust creepbon occation. As someone who has finally found an enjoyable social media I’m very sad.
Couldn’t agree with you more! This is exactly how I use IG. Facebook introduced the algorithm last year or year before (I think) and I hate it. I constantly miss news and friend’s updates and see more of stuff I actually don’t want to see. And the option to turn on the chronological view? Forget it… no matter how many times I put it on that setting, it still defaults back to the algorithm view. If IG is going to be as bad as FB then maybe I’ll consider opening a Flickr account. A side note: this algorithm was introduced to Twitter also, but I read somewhere that Twitter users caused such an uproar over the change that the algorithm was removed.
Ooooh! Love this – thanks for sharing your thoughts! I hadn’t really considered that “friends’ drunken selfies” may beat out the truly inspirational content you really enjoy. Excellent food for thought! Here’s a little something though … because Instragram is so much simpler than FB (speaking of the interface only), I don’t feel like they’ll move to an entirely algorithm based feed. I feel like there will still be the chronological aspect there as well. What if it was just the first 5 posts at the top of your feed were based on the algorithm … and then everything filed neatly underneath (chronologically) as it always had??? That’s really what I’m hoping for.
Great perspective, and I love the idea of turning off social media notifications! I’m doing that right now. Thanks!
You bet!
I can’t describe how much I dislike the new format. The only social media I enjoyed was Instagram, until now. Chronological makes sense. This new format is horrible. I want to see the accounts I follow in chronological order. That’s it. It shouldn’t be so difficult. When it’s out of order it just doesn’t flow at all. Seriously considering just leaving IG and FB. It would certainly give me more time to live the life I front of me. That being said I would miss the accounts that give me inspiration and smiles. Like yours. I hope they listen to the masses and put it back. It wasn’t broken.
So you’ve already experienced the changes?!?! I didn’t think it had taken effect yet, but I’m sure it’s rolled out in stages. Here’s the thing, because I agree that chronological makes sense – what if they only use the top few spots for algorithm based content? Like 3 or 5 or 7 … and then everything else is chronological beneath that. That’s what I’m hoping for and I’m pretty sure that they aren’t just going to jumble up all of our feeds and then throw them back at us. Instagram is much simpler than FB (in terms of functions) so I don’t think the intent is to take everything out of order, but I guess we’ll all find out soon enough.
Thanks for the explanation Angie. I didn’t even realize this change was going on. I sure don’t want to miss your posts! ?
Hi Hillary! We’ll still be posting on the regular and I’m hoping that the changes really are for the better. I have no insider knowledge on these things, but I wanted to post a few thoughts as I saw some widespread panic without a lot of actual “knowing” what an algorithm based feed will look like. None of us knows. But in the meantime, we’re choosing to keep positive about it 🙂
I’m with you. I refuse to get social media notifications. I love your account and since I’m not on everyday, when I see one of your pictures I’ll go to your account and see what I’ve missed and just catch up and “like” them all at the same time! Works for me!
I do the exact same thing! If I haven’t seen something from a favorite account in a while, I go check out what they’ve been up to and catch up on my liking and commenting 🙂
I do like your perspective. And I certainly hope you are right- that we will see more from who we actually interact with… but just in case, I was part of notification-palooza 😉 😉
Fingers crossed!!! 🙂
The “notification-palooza” today was driving me crazy — was tempted to UNFOLLOW everyone that did it. There IS a petition at Change.org, and IG tweeted (haha) “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.”
It was a bit much for me too. And I just wish IG would give a little more info about how the changes might look, but I suppose that opens things up to a whole other round of “well it would be better IF”. But I do wish that everyone was a bit more open minded about why these things COULD be a good thing. We’ll see 🙂
People over-reacted in a major way. And why yesterday? The news came out a week before! A social media maven friend posted this on FB, and I think it makes sense:
“Ok social media PSA here. Please do NOT ask your followers to turn on notifications. It does not make your posts appear in chronological order – it sends a push notification OUT OF APP everytime someone posts.
This is going to backfire terribly. Because when people start getting too many notifications from you – it’s going to be quicker and easier to unfollow than turn off notifications.
If you produce high quality content that people want to engage with – you may find an increase in engagement. This time last year average engagement was 3% it’s now 0.85%. Instagram is over saturated. The key here isn’t to find a work around – the key is to produce the best and most engaging content you can.” — Kelsi Smith @wearestylesmith
I couldn’t agree with that sentiment more!
And I’d been hearing a lot of chatter of the past couple weeks about the changes. And a few people had already been pushing the “turn on notifications” over the past week, but I believe that yesterday was the day the changes were supposed to go in effect. Which I’m guessing is what caused the frenzy. Looks like IG didn’t move ahead with that though, so we’ll see.
People (other than IG/FB make money from Instagram? I had no idea. Seriously.
But my main point is: for those ho don’t want the change, don’t update the app on your phone and you probably won’t see the new algorithm. That’s what I’ve done with Twitter for months now.
Anytime you see those hashtags: #sp #ad #sponsored … and the like, there is compensation involved. For some people, it may just be free product (in exchange for a post) but for the VAST majority, that is a paid campaign. And there are more and more and MORE of those happening all the time …
And all the #liketkit which is an affiliate program of Reward Style. HUGE with fashion bloggers on IG. It makes IG photos “shoppable” through an elaborate email system.
I will be honest and say I have turned on a few notifications. A girl I went to school with had posted a giveaway for her small business and you had to like all these accounts to enter. It started a vicious cycle of me entering contests and before I knew it I was following 800+ accounts and started to realize that some of these accounts were posting so much it cluttered my feed and I wasn’t seeing my favorites (like you and Mayhem). I quit my time consuming addiction (lol) and have started deleting a few accounts a day. It’s still a lot though and I don’t want to miss certain accounts in the mean time. So until I get it sorted out. Notifications it is. But not because of some IG algorithm…
Now that makes sense to me! Although, I’m sorry that you ended up following a bunch of accounts that don’t bring you value because of giveaways and contents. We’ve been asked a lot to participate in those loop giveaways (follow this account and go to the next until you’re following all 10, 15,etc. accounts involved) because I just don’t like that idea. I’ll follow the accounts that I want to because I like their feeds. And you’re right – it’s absolutely a time consuming addiction 😉 Keep whittling down that list until it’s just the stuff that brings you value!
I couldn’t agree more! When I first found out about the changes, I had a slight panic attack. I thought, “I just opened a new account and now no one will see my posts!” But I wanted to learn more about the changes and the background behind them. From learning that perspective it quieted any hesitation I had. Like all businesses, I understand that Instagram needs to stay ahead of the game and changing the format, that has been the same from inception, is refreshing. You are absolutely right, this is not a popularity contest. But the social media machine has made even the humblest sometimes want those ‘likes’. I made the choice to openly share my photos with the world and your post made me remember that is why I started in the first place. Thanks for sharing =)
Thanks for your common sense!
I feel the same way you do, and I also have ZERO notifications (not email, not Facebook, NOTHING) on my phone either. I can’t imagine someone like you having IG notifications turned on…your entire day every day would be your phone dinging!