Instagram announced a new feature Thursday where users can see the accounts they interact with the most and least — offering a glance into how the popular photo-sharing app’s algorithm works.
In an effort of transparency, the feature will begin rolling out within the next few days and answers the question of why we tend to see posts from some users more than others.
In the past, Instagram has regularly said it does not purposely hide accounts from your feed but instead shows a hierarchy of posts it thinks you may like first — though it did start tinkering with that, too.
“Instagram is really about bringing you closer to the people and things you care about — but we know that over time, your interests and relationships can evolve and change,” said a company spokesman in a statement to Digital Trends. “With this feature, you’ll have quick access and easy shortcuts to see the accounts you follow, organized by category, and edit from there.”
The feature is broken down into two categories: “Most Shown in Feed” and “Least Interacted With.” To access it, go to your profile and tap “Following” at the top.
As noted by Mashable, the feature is just a representation of why your feed looks the way it does: It does not provide users with the option of moving accounts across categories. It is still up to the user to like posts and react to Stories of the accounts they wish to see more from.
Alongside this new feature is also the ability to sort your “Following” list from earliest to latest, letting you see the first account you ever followed.
Want to see which Instagram accounts show up in your feed the most and who you interact with the least? Now you can! Just tap “Following” and manage your list from there. pic.twitter.com/eKFOBCdutr
— Instagram (@instagram) February 6, 2020
This isn’t the first update the social media platform has released in an attempt to give users what they are nostalgic for: A chronological feed. The company’s decision to switch up its former consecutive timeline to a more personalized one in 2016 still angers creators to this day.
With the release of this new feature, Instagram hopes to appease its noisy naysayers by providing a better way to manage what they see — but without doing much to bring back past versions of the app. Long live the algorithm.
