instagramlogoInstagram has moved to address rumors that it actively suppresses the reach of user posts on the social network.

In a statement posted on its official Twitter account, Instagram said that it has not made any recent changes to the way its feed algorithms work and that "we never hide posts from people you're following - if you keep scrolling, you will see them all."

Instagram explained that the order of posts in a feed is determined by the level of user interaction – in other words, like its parent network Facebook, posts on Instagram are organized by potential level of engagement rather than in chronological order.


Instagram adopted Facebook's algorithmic feed way back in June 2016. A study by Instagram itself found that before the algorithm was introduced, on average, users missed 70 percent of the posts on their feeds and 50 percent of the posts from their friends.

After the algorithm though, Instagram's users see 90 percent of their friends' posts. Given those figures, recent rumors that the platform have been limiting the reach of posts could just well be the result of some users not scrolling down far enough.

Top Rated Comments

martyjmclean Avatar
68 months ago
Surely a non chronological feed to drive ad revenue is limiting post's reach.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HacKage Avatar
68 months ago
"we never hide posts from people you're following - if you keep scrolling, you will see them all."
This is the problem though. In order to see my friend's posts, I had to scroll for roughly a minute or 2 non stop to get past the posts from companies and professional pages' posts, some of which were 4-5 days old. Posts from actual people that were 1 hour old were not even in the top 50 posts showing on my feed. There is an unrelated advert every fifth post as well on the feed, as well as every fifth story.

That along with the fact that they actively listen to you even when the screen is off and then feed you ads related to what you are talking about (I have experienced it twice, and many others send me proof of it the more I talk about it) means I deleted my Facebook and IG accounts, and the apps from all devices. Everything Facebook touches ends up poisoned.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
5105973 Avatar
68 months ago
I was in line at a clothing store paying for my daughter’s school clothes and there was a young lady, approximately in her mid 20’s, next to me at the other cashier. She was asked for her ID for some form of payment she was making. The very pretty but clearly depth-of-personality challenged young lady put her nose up in the air and said in a very condescending tone “I’m on Instagram as...Whatever...you can look me up”. And she honestly thought that was an acceptable form of ID and proceeded to argue the point and treated the cashier as if she were from the Stone Age for not knowing that.

My 14 year old looked at her, shook her head and shot her a :confused: look and said in a mumble that was still clear enough to be overheard “Old people! They think Instagram is everything.”

Yes she knew she was being a snarky little thing but she thought that person was being incredibly rude to the patient cashier and all the people in line waiting to be rung up. And not many teenagers can pass up an opportunity to burn a twenty-something.

I do think eventually Instagram will be the next old fart’s graveyard. Younger more savvy people will find it too cumbersome and find something more nimble and cool until the old marketing farts find a way to ruin the new thing, too.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HacKage Avatar
68 months ago
I was in line at a clothing store paying for my daughter’s school clothes and there was a young lady, approximately in her mid 20’s, next to me at the other cashier. She was asked for her ID for some form of payment she was making. The very pretty but clearly depth-of-personality challenged young lady put her nose up in the air and said in a very condescending tone “I’m on Instagram as...Whatever...you can look me up”. And she honestly thought that was an acceptable form of ID and proceeded to argue the point and treated the cashier as if she were from the Stone Age for not knowing that.

My 14 year old looked at her, shook her head and shot her a :confused: look and said in a mumble that was still clear enough to be overheard “Old people! They think Instagram is everything.”

Yes she knew she was being a snarky little thing but she thought that person was being incredibly rude to the patient cashier and all the people in line waiting to be rung up. And not many teenagers can pass up an opportunity to burn a twenty-something.

I do think eventually Instagram will be the next old fart’s graveyard. Younger more savvy people will find it too cumbersome and find something more nimble and cool until the old marketing farts find a way to ruin the new thing, too.
Unlike Facebook that is still useful for some to arrange events or for news, Instagram is entirely about advertising and vanity. It has nothing of any substance. Quick, visual input that does nothing to enrich your life in any way. It's for "influencers" who do nothing but ruin the lives of people who become obsessed with having the next big thing. For people to fake their lives online to show how they've "made it", making others feel jealous etc. Instagram is not too big to fail, and as soon as something more streamlined or better comes along, everyone will jump ship.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Jimmy James Avatar
68 months ago
Isn’t Instagram owned by Facebook?

I may be a minority but non-chronological feeds have had an impact on reducing my usage to almost nil.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thisisnotmyname Avatar
68 months ago
The real news here should be that Insta has a Twitter account and uses it for announcements about its own service.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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