How an algorithm works is always shrouded in mystery, but recently Instagram has come forward to clear up the rumors and give us some facts about how their app functions. We waded through a lot of information to narrow down what the most important information is, so let’s dive in!
#1: The algorithm changes every minute (literally).
First, and importantly, Instagram verified that their algorithm is adapting every minute because it’s machine-learning. This means that they aren’t dropping massive updates once in a while like Etsy does.
“Because it’s powered by machine learning, Instagram’s feed ranking is constantly adapting and improving based on new data.”
Instagram Team
Due of this, we can guess that a sudden drop in account growth is likely not because of an algorithm update, but because your post engagement has dropped. Which leads us to the next point:
#2: Engagement is all that really matters and everyone’s feed is different.
What appears on your feed and in what order is different for everybody. The app calculates what you see based on your interactions with posts. So, you’re more likely to see handmade soap on your feed if you’ve clicked on other posts about handmade soap in the past. Why is this significant? Well, the recent statements from Instagram confirm what we’ve been saying all along; engagement with your posts is what matters. If people engage with your posts, they’ll see your other posts and then you’ll show up in front of more people who have engaged with similar images.
According to Instagram, the most important kinds of engagements are:
- Comments
- Likes
- Reshares
- Views (for videos)
Note that “Saves” are not listed above yet, but many experts (such as Later.com) believe that Saves will soon be as important as Likes if not more important because Instagram is starting to hide Likes in some countries (including the U.S.). If they’re hiding likes, then the importance of them may go down in the future. So, it would be a good idea to start encouraging people to save some of your posts.
#3: Instagram cares about the timeline of your posts.
Since the platform wants to spread relevant information, Instagram cares about the recency of your posts. A post that gets great engagement will eventually fall off of feeds and be replaced with popular content that is more recent.
This means that we have to discuss the push to post every day that you see everywhere. Frankly, we’ve been a little irritated by this concept. Yes, there is plenty of evidence to show that you grow your account faster if you post every day, but having to post every day forces people to churn out content which makes it hard to maintain content quality and the genuine nature of your feed. We do not post every day unless we have things that we WANT to post because we don’t want to get caught in the trap of producing content for the sake of producing content.
Your Instagram page is like your visual diary. It should be fun to post and engage with your followers. We feel that the fun gets taken out of it when posting becomes something that you *have* to do whether you have something to share or not.
The next few Instagram facts speak for themselves, so we’ll just list them out:
#5 The algorithm does not favor videos over images.
#6 Fake interactions are not effective.
#7: All comments count as engagement, regardless of length.
Some people thought that comments consisting of only emojis or a few words didn’t account as an engagement, but thankfully, they do. In case you didn’t notice, we LOVE emojis!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
#8 All types of accounts are treated equally.
It doesn’t matter if an individual, business, or creator (a different kind of account that allows people to manage messages and data better, but doesn’t integrate with social media scheduling tools) interacts with your posts, it’s all counted as engagement by Instagram.
#9 The first 30 minutes of engagement does NOT impact ranking.
At one point a lot of people thought that posts that received a lot of engagement right after being shared were more likely to go viral. This isn’t the case. Instagram follows your engagement rates continually and doesn’t prioritize the first 30 minutes. That being said, it IS important to try and publish posts when your audience is active. A quick peek at your Insights tab will show you what times of the day your audience is most active.
We hope this information has given you a little more clarity about how the Instagram algorithm works!
