What does Instagram’s move away from a chronological feed mean for marketers?
Last week, Instagram announced that a major change was coming. This change is to introduce and algorithm-driven feed. In Instagram’s own words: “to improve your experience, your feed will soon be ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most“.
This is a controversial step, though perhaps less so now than it would previously have been. When Facebook introduced it’s Edgerank algorithm to its timeline back in 2009, it was greeted with statements of doom about the future of social networking.
Just a few weeks ago, Twitter launched it’s own algorithm (though initially as an optional switch), which also created a backlash. #RIPTwitter was soon trending and Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO, was forced to publicly defend the move.
So, what was the reaction to Instagram’s news?
Well, it appears that once again, unsurprisingly, users aren’t happy. There has been a flood of posts on Instagram and Twitter showed people’s discontent at the news and an e-petition has been launched to prevent the change from happening. At the time of writing over 200,000 people had signed the motion to Keep Instagram Chronological. Extreme stuff.
How would you feel about Instagram switching to an algorithmic feed?
How would you feel about Instagram switching to an algorithmic feed?
— FutureShift (@futureshift) March 15, 2016
#Instagram #RIPinstagram
I do NOT want an algorithm for my feed!#summer #girl #boy #tbt … https://t.co/urrj1dEs1f pic.twitter.com/pIMFhFtuk8— Dirk Jung bsky @dirkjung.com (@Krid63) March 16, 2016
However, it is possible that Instagram aren’t doing this just to annoy their 400 million regular users. This change has been explained by Kevin Systrom, co-founder and Chief Executive of Instagram, who said in an interview: “on average, people miss about 70 percent of the posts in their Instagram feed. What this is about is making sure that the 30 percent you see is the best 30 percent possible“.
That sounds fair enough, but what does this mean for marketers?
TechCrunch’s article, The Death of Instagram for brands makes the point that gaining reach on the platform will now become a money game, meaning smaller brands will suffer while bigger brands pump more money into better content and more reach.
This view seems to be commonly shared, media site, BrandChannel posted: “the algorithm will siphon organic engagement for brands that have grown accustomed to earned media. As a result, those brands will increasingly have to pay for the impressions they had been cultivating organically“.
Instagram has said this will be a gradual process and that the platform is determined to try and get this right. They end their blog post in a way designed to calm nerves: “we’re going to take time to get this right and listen to your feedback along the way”. Now, let’s see if it works.
