More important Instagram updates

Earlier this week we discussed how Instagram had made some important changes which could make it easier for businesses and marketers to use. This week, Instagram made another announcement...

On Tuesday March 15^th Instagram announced that they will be changing the way Instagrammers see their personal feeds, a move which could shake things up for all users of the popular platform. They are looking at switching from a chronological view to an algorithmic view similar to Facebook. This will show the moments they believe you care about most at the top of your feed. 

But is this what we want for Instagram? We all enjoy a good Instagram session looking at pictures of our friend’s cat sitting in a sink or seeing what our cousin got up to on a stag weekend in Skegness. But, will this change impact the whole Instagram experience and how we use Instagram?

Instagram has always stated that it is an ‘On the go app’ but without the ability to view pictures in a chronological order, will this take away the ‘on-the-go-ability?’ I personally think so but it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

This new update will mean that you will no longer be able to enjoy a leisurely scroll through your Instagram feed until you stumble upon a post you recognise, instead, Instagram will reorganise your feed in the order they think you like the most.

This could turn Instagram into a very similar channel to Facebook but will this benefit marketers? Similarly to Facebook, will sponsored posts start to be the first post you see when you open the app?

All this is unclear at the moment, but with the latest updates and this most recent announcement, it certainly looks like Instagram is slowly moving towards heavily monitising the platform but only time will tell whether we’ll all end up spotting more sponsored adverts while scrolling through our feeds.

With further changes afoot, is it likely that Instagram will soon also introduce a ‘most recent’ feature? But where will this sit, given that Instagram is so light on navigation, will there be a new sub option under the Explore tab?

No one can be certain about what to expect from Instagram next, but I predict Instagram has even more tricks up its sleeve. Watch this space for further updates… 

What do you think? Tweet us your thoughts - @bcsAgency