Instagram has added two new modes that is going to change how your main feed works and what you see on it. This brings back the “much-awaited” reverse-chronological view on the feed.
The two new modes are called “Favorites” and “Following”, and Instagram explained that these are going to “give you more choice and control over what you see” while you scroll through the app. This essentially allows you to avoid things like suggested posts and seeing content pushed by algorithmic sorting that is based on what and who the app thinks you might like.
The “Following” feed has been described as - “See the latest posts from accounts that you follow, in the order they were posted”. In the “Favorites” mode, users can star up to 50 accounts and the posts from these starred accounts are going to show up higher in your main feed. Additionally, you can also view posts from the Favorites under a separate “Favorites” feed that is going to show you content starting from the starred accounts’ most recent posts.
“Your Favorites list is private to you and will not be visible to anyone else,” Instagram spokesperson Seine Kim told The Verge.
“Your Instagram feed is a mix of photos and videos from people you follow, suggested posts and more. Over time, we’re going to add more recommendations to your feed based on your interests — Favorites and Following are new ways to catch up on recent posts from the accounts you follow,” Instagram explained.
“Over time, we’re going to add more recommendations to your feed based on your interests,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri explained. So, essentially, the main, default feed will now start showing you more content from people you do not follow. Most Instagram users have complained about this very feature on the current version of the feed.
While this issue is going to remain, and perhaps even get worse, on your main, default feed, the “Following” and “Favorites” modes should work as compensation, along with the chronological feed.
These new modes have been in the works for a while and Instagram has finally made it available to everyone, after testing it out. To sort out the “Following” and “Favorites” mode you need to tap on the Instagram logo on the top left corner while you are on the home tab and pick the one you want to see.
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