Instagram will once again offer a chronological feed, in which photos and videos are ordered from newest to oldest. According to the social network, the new feature began to be released in the testing phase and should reach all users throughout the first half of 2022.
The chronological feed was used by Instagram in the early years of its existence. It was replaced in 2016, when the social network adopted a model that prioritizes profiles with which users interact most.
The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, used social media to give more details about the change. The executive stated that users will be able to choose between three options:
- Home: the feed in the current model, in which Instagram orders posts based on what it believes will attract the most interest and includes recommendations from accounts that users do not follow;
- Following: the feed in chronological order with only the accounts that users follow, and without recommendations from the social network;
- Favorites: option for users to create a list to ensure they see posts from some profiles, such as close friends.
According to Mosseri, the “Home” feed, which is not chronological, will feature “more and more recommendations over time” and it should function more as a space for discovery than a way to follow the content of those you already follow. “Favorites” will allow you to easily keep up to date with your group of friends and family or another favorite @, and “Following” will show you posts from all the other users you follow.
One detail here, which is being heavily criticized: the solution that has been in testing since the beginning of December does not allow the user to select one of the feed formats as their default viewing preference, which means that if they want to see their feed in order chronologically, you will have to manually switch to the “Favorites” or “Following” feed every time you use the app.
