Instagram is one of the most widely used apps across the world. People love sharing photos, videos, etc. on the app. But do you know how the app decides what and whose posts to show you first?

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Instagram has answered this type of question in its recent blog post. It has revealed the factors behind the content the app shows you on almost a daily basis. 

 

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"Today, we’re sharing the first in a series of posts that will shed more light on how Instagram’s technology works and how it impacts the experiences that people have across the app. This first post tries to answer questions like "How does Instagram decide what shows up for me first?”; “Why do some of my posts get more views than others?"; and "How does Instagram decide what to show me in Explore?", the app said in its blog post.

How Instagram ranks Feed, Stories, Explore and Reels?

Feed and Stories are places where people want to see content from their friends, family, and those they are closest to. While Explore was designed to help you discover new things where the majority of what you see is from the accounts you follow.

Similar to Explore, Reels, designed to entertain you also shows content from accounts you don’t follow. 

Here is how Instagram ranks Feeds, Stories, Explore and Reels:

1. Recently shared: It’s all the recent posts shared by the people you follow. There are a few exceptions, like ads, but the vast majority of what you see is shared by those you follow.

2. Signals: Next is all the information the app has about what was posted, the people who made those posts, and your preferences. Instagram calls these “signals”, and it includes everything from what time a post was shared to whether you’re using a phone or the web to how often you like videos. The most important signals are:

a. Information about the post: These are signals both about how popular a post is – think how many people have liked it – and more mundane information about the content itself, like when it was posted, how long it is if it’s a video, and what location, if any, was attached to it.

b. Information about the person who posted. 

c. Your activity: This helps in understanding what you might be interested in and includes signals such as how many posts you’ve liked.

d. Your history of interacting with someone: This gives a sense of how interested you are generally in seeing posts from a particular person.

However, there are a few cases where other considerations into account like trying to avoid showing too many posts from the same person in a row. Also, if a post goes against the Community Guidelines of Instagram and it will be taken down.

You can note that you do not follow the people you see in Explore, therefore there are Recommendations Guidelines that include things like avoiding potentially upsetting or sensitive posts. 

For Reels as well the same Recommendation Guidelines are used. Low-resolution or watermarked reels, or reels that focus on political issues or that are made by political figures, parties, or government officials - or on their behalf are avoided for recommendations.