Instagram has confirmed that it will start to show “recommended posts” on user’s feeds. This was an expected change after the social media platform conducted pilot testing a few weeks ago. The recommended posts will be suggested to users based on the accounts they follow and the photos or videos that they like on the platform. The section will also be clearly labeled so that it’s not confused with the normal home feed.
The “recommended for you” section will have at least three suggested posts and five at most. The new feature has gone live quietly but it’s not really the first time that Instagram is toying with the idea. The photo-sharing platform has offered recommended content in the past. However, it was a little bit difficult to access it. Users had to go to the Explore section to see recommended posts and videos. But the new change will bring this new feature to your feed.
Instagram has been making a number of key changes on its platform in order to improve the user experience. However, the addition of recommended content on the home feed is perhaps one of the biggest changes since the platform decided to switch its feed from chronological to algorithmic. With these new changes, Instagram users will not only see stories and posts from accounts they follow but additional, relevant content from their wider network. This is almost the same as the new “Explore Feed” that was launched by Facebook.
Recently, Instagram has been focused on broadening access to posts and content beyond accounts that users follow. Earlier this month, the platform launched an update that allows users to follow hashtags. The idea was designed to help users access updated stories and posts from interested events directly on their feed.
However, there is one fundamental difference between the hashtag feature and the new “recommended posts” feature. For the hashtags, you can easily opt in and out voluntarily. The recommended content is, however, not optional and there is no way you can disable it. The best you can do in case you don’t want to see these posts is to hide the feature temporarily.
It’s very difficult though to see why this could be a problem for anyone. After all, even with the “recommended posts” feature, the posts you care about from the accounts you follow will always be available on your feed. Besides, the recommended posts will only appear once you have viewed all the stories on your timeline.
There’s no doubt that there will be a number of users who will not like the “recommended posts” feature. Nonetheless, Instagram has already started rolling out the new update and it’s just a matter of time before you start seeing it on your feed. The social media platform did not give any clear indications on when exactly will the new update be fully available to all its users.
