Instagram Algorithms

Algorithms. They’re the reason why some posts may appear higher on your newsfeed or show up in your explore feed. It’s a system that people either seem to love or hate, but regardless of their feelings it doesn’t seem like algorithms will be going anywhere anytime soon. This week we’re giving some insight into how Instagram’s algorithms work.
The first thing you should know about Instagram’s algorithms is that there are multiple ones set up for each major feature including newsfeed posts, the explore feed, and reels. Despite each feature having their own system, they typically take into consideration the same four signals – information within the post, information on the poster, your relationship with the poster, and your own activity. The information signals mainly have to do with how popular the post and poster are, with high popularity increasing the chance you’ll be shown the content. The next two signals the platform considers are based on how much you have interacted with that person or that type of content, meaning that the more you interact with something the better the chance you’ll be shown it.

When it comes to influencing what you see, there are a few things you can do like selecting close friends, muting people, and marking recommended posts as uninteresting. These will help give the algorithm a better idea of the type of content you want to see, because it acts as a direct signal to the algorithm that you want or don’t want to see this content.
The algorithm system might not be perfect, but understanding how it works is the first step to making it better. This understanding is something that can also help shape our own social posts and our client’s social posts as we continue to develop our digital strategies.

Learn more about Instagram’s algorithm.