Instagram users who depend on the site for followers have been asking users to “turn on notifications” in advance of an expected algorithm change, often in creative ways. The company said the shift will make it easier for users to stay updated on content they want to see.
“Turn on post notifications.”
If you spend much time on Instagram, you’ve probably seen these four words — or the cheekier variation, “Turn me on,” and the more lyrical, “Let’s stay together” — on the social media platform.
The flurry of pleas resulted from an Instagram corporate announcement that the company is tweaking its algorithm to “show the moments we believe will care about the most.”
“The order of photos and videos in your feed will be based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post,” according to a company announcement.
Currently, Instagram estimates users miss up to 70 percent of the content in their feeds, as new posts quickly become “buried” below more recent (but potentially less relevant) updates. Instagram currently has about 400 million regular visitors. (Facebook, by comparison, has 1.59 billion monthly users.)
But among some die-hard ‘grammers — and professionals who rely on the site to promote their blogs or business — the announcement ushered in panic that followers would soon have trouble following their favorite accounts.
The company issued a statement in response to the uproar, promising users that the changes will be rolled out slowly and won’t be disruptive to brands.
“Performance or popularity is not what we’re optimizing for,” the company insisted, via a statement to TechCrunch. “While we are using likes and comments as signals, timeliness and the relationship between the poster and the viewer are also important. We’re not removing any posts from people’s feeds, just reordering them… Our goal is to help people see the posts they care about, including from brands.”
Still, for florists using Instagram, the best practice advice of social media has never been more sound: Post regularly, stay on-brand and encourage your customers to find and follow you on the site. (Read more tips on marketing and branding on Instagram.)
Get more background on the change-up, and how it compares to similar algorithm shifts at Twitter and Facebook.
