Prepare the pitchforks, because Instagram is going Facebook. The popular picture-based social network will soon stop showing photos in the chronology of when they were taken, but will instead sort them on users’ feeds based on a personalized algorithm.
According to the New York Times, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom says that people miss 70 percent of what’s in their feeds anyway. So, he says, “What this is about is making sure that the 30 percent you see is the best 30 percent possible.” In other words, you’ll see the photos from the accounts that you interact with most, because that’s what Instagram thinks you want to see. Here’s what Instagram has to say on its blog:
The order of photos and videos in your feed will be based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post. As we begin, we’re focusing on optimizing the order — all the posts will still be there, just in a different order.
If your favorite musician shares a video from last night’s concert, it will be waiting for you when you wake up, no matter how many accounts you follow or what time zone you live in. And when your best friend posts a photo of her new puppy, you won’t miss it.
Like with any major social media change (remember how mad people were about the Facebook timeline?), users are upset about the algorithm-ing of the Instagram feed.
Artist Clayton Cubitt thinks that Instagram will start charging so that users can boost their content on feeds, and that NSFW photos will suffer.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BC_rUvgJXn8/
The Analoggers account says, “I suppose it’s no surprise that the owners of Instagram (Facebook), are heading down the road of ruining their user’s experience in order to pad their own pockets, because that’s how they ruined Facebook.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BC_mAxHJDkw/
True, this might make Instagram as unbearable as Facebook (I sure don’t like most of the content that ends up on my timeline), but resistance is futile. How many of us have actually left social media because of changes like this?
(via New York Times)
