Instagram Chronological Feed is Back [News & Updates]

Is It True That The Instagram Chronological Feed Is Back?

If you missed our latest Instagram updates 2022 post, you might have missed the news that the Instagram chronological feed is back! 

After years of Instagram users complaining about the algorithm…

…and even legal backlash against Instagram in how its algorithm impacts the mental health of its users…

…Instagram has finally made a decision that we believe will make an actual difference to the algorithm, which is bringing the chronological feed back. 

Now, there has been more information released about it since our last update…

…so today, we’re going to unpack this update on Instagram chronological feed further and what it means for your business.

Let’s get started!

Quick Update On What Happened

Instagram head Adam Mosseri made the announcement several weeks back that at the beginning of this year 2022…

…Instagram was going to be bringing the chronological feed back as an OPTION. 

So that’s the first key thing to note- they’re not changing everyone’s feed automatically.

Users will have the option to opt-in to a chronological feed if they want to.

What We’ve Learned About The Instagram Chronological Feed Since Then

Instagram users will be given 3 different ways to view their feed:

1. Home
2. Following
3. Favorites

The home feed will use the algorithm we have now– with some changes coming down the line that we’ll talk more about in a second. 

The following feed will show posts chronologically from the people you follow. 

And the favorites feed will solely show posts from people you have manually favorited- so there’s no algorithm influence there.

Now with the home feed, in a recent video, Adam said, “Home is going to have more and more recommendations over time.”

While there have been no official clarifications from Instagram yet on what that means- at the time that we’re writing this…

…a lot of people are thinking it means moving more and more towards a TikTok-like home feed, with more suggested posts.

Suggested posts mean Instagram is picking the posts you see, instead of solely seeing posts from the people you follow. 

Now, Instagram has already been inserting suggested posts into the home feed. 

Look at this screenshare from home feed for example. Here are suggested Instagram Reels from people we don’t follow, in our home feed. 

Here’s a suggested post in our home feed from someone we don’t follow, but it’s being suggested to us because we liked a similar post from another account.

So suggested posts are not new to the home feed, but per Adam’s video, it seems like more suggestions and changes are coming to that feed. 

This is why Instagram is simultaneously giving users an option to switch to Instagram chronological feed…

…or the following feed, to solely see posts from people they follow.

Now, having this information, there are questions that we’re wondering about…

…and things we’re thinking ahead about as a digital marketer and on behalf of you guys and our clients who are business owners.

But before we share that with you, have you already checked out our new social media ads training course?

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Things We’re Thinking Ahead About As Professional Digital Marketers

We’re curious to know if there will be data in Instagram Insights that shows how your followers have listed you.

Like, will we be able to see if the majority of our followers view us in their home, following, or favorites feed?

If someone adds our account to their favorites feed, will they be notified every time we post?

Or for instance, will users see a little blue dot next to the word Favorites in the dropdown to signal there are new posts available to look at there?

We think having that kind of information would be huge…

…because it would allow us as entrepreneurs and marketers to make data-driven decisions in the content we create. 

For instance, people who are viewing you in their favorites feed, are probably a lot more invested in your brand and further down your marketing funnel…

…than people who are seeing your content from a home feed, where maybe they don’t even follow you, your post is just being suggested to them.

If you’re in someone’s favorite feed, that means they manually added you to a list that says, “I want to see their content.”

So if you as a business owner could see that the majority of your followers are viewing you from their favorites feed…

…that could liberate you to make more conversion-oriented content instead of keeping your Instagram content so top of funnel and brand awareness-oriented.

Another point that we’re interested to see is how the user behavior plays out with all this. 

Are we now going to start seeing masses of influencers and business accounts asking, “Add us to your favorites!”

The same way people currently ask, “Turn on notifications for my account!”? 

And as a result, are we going to see users get burned out on hearing that pretty quickly?

There have been literally years worth of complaints about the Instagram algorithm from all sides- consumers, creators, and business owners.

So now that Instagram is giving everyone the option on how they want to view their feed…

…we’re very interested to see how many people actually utilize the chronological following feed.

We might see a lot of people switch to view things from the chronological feed…

…but then start unfollowing or muting accounts that they slowly realize they don’t actually care to see.

So we want to wrap up with what you as a business owner can do throughout these changes to ensure you get more eyeballs and less unfollows.

What You Can Do With These Changes On Instagram Chronological Feed

1. Always make content for your followers, not for you. 

Don’t focus on how great you are, focus on the problems your customers are trying to solve or the goals they’re trying to achieve.

And then, bridge that gap for them with your content.

Don’t just post single-image photos because that’s what’s easiest for you.

Instead, post the format that draws the most reach and Instagram engagement (which if we had to guess, is probably Reels).

2. Always make data-driven content.

Pay closer attention to your Instagram insights than maybe you normally do so that you can keep a pulse on what’s working and what’s not. 

Things that have historically worked to date may start fluctuating with the feed changes.

These tests are already happening so a lot of people already have access to view their feeds differently.

And, Instagram is hoping to fully launch this new change in the first half of this year.

So don’t just rest in what’s always worked; stay on top of it so you can be sure what you’re putting out there is still currently working. 

And that wraps up all of the Instagram updates we had for you today with the new chronological feed!

If you need more guidance with your Instagram marketing, our Instagram consultant can definitely help you.

Contact us today at 404-596-7925.

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