The Instagram algorithm is a topic of much debate. Some people argue that it exists at all, while others think it’s just a myth or simply an excuse for the company to stay tight-lipped about how their system works. But if you want to understand Instagram, you’ve got to understand the algorithm—so let’s take a look at how it works!
What Is the Instagram Algorithm?
The Instagram algorithm is a secret formula that determines how your posts appear in users’ feeds. It helps to determine what you see on the Explore page, among other things.
Like any other social media platform (e.g., Facebook), Instagram uses an algorithm to control what you see and when you see it. The goal of this system is to keep users engaged with the app by showing content they find interesting and relevant in their feed. This allows them to stay active on the app longer, which means more ad revenue for Instagram!
Feed Posts
The Instagram algorithm, at its core, is a feed of posts that are most likely to be seen by your followers. This means that you’re more likely to see the posts of people you follow, rather than the posts from accounts you don’t follow.
Most people have the tendency to open their app and scroll through their feed until they find something engaging enough for them to interact with – whether it’s liking or commenting on a post. As soon as someone interacts with that post, they get notified immediately (with an Instagram notification). The notification tells them which person interacted with their content so that they can go back into their feed and check out what others are up too!
Reels & Stories
Reels and Stories are a bit different. Reels are a collection of your best posts, while Stories are temporary posts that disappear after 24 hours. They’re not part of the feed algorithm—you can post them whenever you want without worrying about whether they’ll appear in someone else’s feed.
Stories and Reels have their own algorithms because they’re both created by people, not machines (and all algorithms need to be written by humans). Stories’ algorithm is an attempt to give users more control over what they see when scrolling through Instagram; it’s based on how much time you spend watching individual stories, so if you stop watching halfway through one video, there’s no guarantee that it’ll show up again anytime soon unless someone else interacts with it or you manually tell Instagram “Hey! I want this story back!”
Explore Page
The explore page is a new feature that has been added to Instagram. It allows users to discover new content based on their interests, as well as past behavior. This means that the explore page will be different for everyone, depending on what they have liked and shared in the past, as well as how often they use Instagram (and what kind of content). Some people might see a lot more images than others.
The explore page was introduced alongside several other changes that were designed to improve engagement rates for creators and businesses on Instagram. These also include changes like adding hashtags back into the search bar and introducing tags within posts themselves; these features make it easier for users to find specific types of photos based off what they’re interested in seeing rather than just searching through all available posts like before – which would likely result in finding nothing at all!
Business, Creator, and Personal Accounts
So what’s the difference between a business account and a personal one? Well, it’s simple: Businesses are on Instagram to engage with the audience and promote their product or service. The algorithm rewards these accounts by showing them more often in the explore page, which is where most people see new content from accounts they don’t follow yet. That way, businesses can post for free and get followers without paying for ads or using any other type of promotion.
Businesses also see much higher engagement rates than personal accounts because their posts are more likely to appear in the explore page (which means more people will see them), and because businesses tend to post about things that matter to their audience (like products).
Takeaway: There’s a lot that goes into the Instagram algorithm.
So there you have it: the Instagram algorithm, explained. It’s a lot to take in—but don’t worry! Now that you know a little more about how the system works, you can take steps to make sure your posts are seen by as many people as possible.
Instagram is a great platform that has many benefits. One of the most important things to remember when using Instagram is that it’s not just an app, but it also has an algorithm. It may seem like there’s no rhyme or reason to how this algorithm works and why certain posts show up in our feed while others don’t, but there are plenty of other factors at play here. We hope this article helps clear up any confusion around the Instagram algorithm so you can get more followers and grow your business!