This month Instagram announced yet another notable change, this time impacting our feeds. For the past several years, Instagram has presented users with a selection of posts based on their "relevancy" to the user, which was determined by a complex algorithm. However starting this month, Instagram has begun testing two more feeds in addition to this standard Home feed: Favorites and Following.
So what is the difference between each of these feeds? We'll break them down below.
Home: The ‘Home’ feed is what you have been using until now. It is AI-based and so that the Instagram algorithms decide the order of the posts you see. This feed will remain the default option, although it will also now show more posts from accounts that you do not follow. So be prepared to see more content from new accounts should you stick with this feed!
Favourites: The ‘Favourites’ feed will only show posts from the accounts that you have marked as a favourite (or starred accounts). This will ensure you see posts from the accounts you're most interested in about, and easily avoid posts you care about less.
Following: The ‘Following’ feed option will sort posts from all of the accounts that you follow in chronological order. This is more reminiscent of the original, chronological style feed that many Instagram users preferred. Unlike the Home feed, Following will only include posts from accounts you follow. It should not involve any algorithm, so you won't receive suggestions from accounts you don’t follow.
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Keep in mind that this new feature will be rolling out to all Instagram users gradually, as these new feeds are only in testing for now. It seems like Instagram is planning to roll out this test to certain users over the course of the next few weeks, as Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri announced that Instagram will be launching these new feeds in the first half of 2022. So whenever the next update arrives, you should finally be able to set up your feed to display however you prefer!
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