Instagram is set to roll out some major changes to its app in 2022. Recently, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri made an announcement that the company is testing several updates to its home feed experience, highlighted by the return of a chronological feed.
- Over the past few years, home feeds have been exclusively determined by an algorithm which serves content based on user behavior, interests, and recommendations from Instagram itself. This feed will remain as the main “Home” option but will be joined by two other feeds that users can now select.
- The return of a chronological feed, which is being labeled as the “Following” option, will display posts in timestamp order from the accounts a user follows.
- There is also a “Favorites” feed which gives users the ability to create a custom feed from accounts that they don’t want to miss content from. This option is ideal for following close friends, family members or other favorite accounts.
Overall, we believe the changes Instagram is making are intended to give more control to the user and their experience within the app. The “Following” and “Favorites” feeds will be optional but give users the flexibility to view content to their liking.
One area that is not clear yet is how ads will be distributed within the three feeds. Our team will continue to monitor the situation and will share updates as the feeds become fully functional.