Instagram Is Changing Your Feed: What You Need to Know

Changes will help people see the photos they're most likely care about.

ByABC News
March 16, 2016, 9:56 AM
The Instagram homepage. Instagram announced today changes to how images will appear in it's viewers account.
The Instagram homepage. Instagram announced today changes to how images will appear in it's viewers account.
instagram.com

— -- Instagram has issued an early warning: In the coming months, the Facebook-owned photo sharing app plans to radically shake up users' feeds in the hope it will allow users to keep up with the people they care about the most.

The reverse chronological feed will be replaced by an algorithmic feed showing photos out of order -- but placing more importance on the ones Instagram's software believes you'll care about the most.

"You may be surprised to learn that people miss on average 70 percent of their feeds. As Instagram has grown, it’s become harder to keep up with all the photos and videos people share. This means you often don’t see the posts you might care about the most," a blog post on the company's website said.

While Instagram hasn't shared extensive details on its algorithmic or how it plans to refine it, the company said the order of the photos and videos in a user's feed will be based on the likelihood a user will be interested in the content, their relationship with the user and the timeliness of the post.

It's unclear how Instagram will know who your best friends are, but it's a safe bet the algorithm could take into account the frequency of likes or interactions with a post.

"If your favorite musician shares a video from last night’s concert, it will be waiting for you when you wake up, no matter how many accounts you follow or what time zone you live in. And when your best friend posts a photo of her new puppy, you won’t miss it," the blog post said. "We’re going to take time to get this right and listen to your feedback along the way."