The photos on your Instagram timeline are not ordered chronologically, but by an algorithm.
The algorithm takes various factors into account to determine which posts the user sees.
While hated by some users, the algorithm is essential for the long-term viability of the Facebook-owned medium’s business model.
Instagram would lose its dominant position if would not adopt an algorithmic based ordering of its timeline.
That is because a social platform that is gaining in popularity, like Instagram, witnesses a growth in both the number of users and the average posts per user. Consequently, many posts remain unseen as there are simply too many posts to show to the average user.
To maintain a healthy mix of engaging content and Business posts, Instagram needs to control user timelines by algorithmic ordering.
The exact algorithm used by Instagram is unknown, but it is known that the algorithm takes the following factors into account:
– interest of the user
– recency of the post
– relationship between user and poster
– usage of the user
– frequency of posting of the poster
The problem with algorithmic ordering of timelines is that Instagram gains more control over the timelines of its users, while users have no knowledge of the algorithm and might have different interests than the makers of Instagram.
Instagram wants is users to be engaged, spent as much time on the platform and click on ads, incentivising the makers of the platform to show users “engaging” content close to the user’s known interests.
At the same time, users might value moderate use of the platform, variation of content and connectedness to both friends and distant acquaintances.
So algorithmic timelines could place the interests of users and makers in direct contrast to each other.
What do you think? Is algorithmic ordering of your Instagram timeline better or worse than chronological ordering?
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I have to admit that I personally also spend quite some time each day scrolling through instagram feets. When the algorithm was introduced, I did not even recognize it since the amount of people I follow is quite small and I was still able to see all newly posted content of my friends. However, I have the feeling that more and more ads are placed between the posts of people I actually follow and I think that the algorithm plays a strong role in determining which advertising is shown to me and in which order. Due to that instagram/facebook has gained in power once more. I am convinced that through determining the order instagram could even influence which clothes we (dis)like, with whom we want to spend more time in our actual lives but it could also go beyond that and influence political campaigns and our health. E.g. if a picture associated with negative feelings is followed by a picture of a political person, is dislike triggered more easily? I think this could be an interesting field of study for the future, if it is not already today.
Nice article Paul!
I personally feel that chronological ordering works best for me. I have serious concerns with seeing posts I like the most first and then seemingly uninteresting ones later on my feed. 🙂