In the early years of Instagram, it was a place where you could follow your favorite photographers and see their posts in chronological order. Today’s Instagram is drastically different but in a move that will bring some parity with the old version, the makers have introduced some new changes to the service.
These come in the form of Following and Favorites, described by Instagram as “two new ways to choose what you see in your feed.” Right now, your regular feed is riddled with recommendations for following certain accounts, cookie-based ads, and posts from accounts you follow. And all these are presented in a rather jumbled manner by the algorithms.
The Following feed aims to show you posts from the people you follow in chronological order. You can switch to it by tapping on the Instagram icon up top. Or you can also switch to the Favorites feed, which will show you the latest from the accounts that you add to a list, like your best friends and favorite creators. Their posts will also show up higher in your regular feed.
Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, said in a blog post, “We’re always working on new ways to improve your Instagram experience. We’ll continue to build features like Favorites and Following to give you more choice and control over what you see, and help make the time you spend on the app feel more intentional.”
However, this welcome change will seemingly come with a side-effect of its own. Mosseri has mentioned that over time, Instagram aims to add more recommendations to your feed based on your interests. This makes Following and Favorite features that are meant to prepare you for an barrage of recommendations that are all set to riddle your regular feed.