The popularity of Instagram is undeniable. According to data from Statista as of January 2021, it is one of the five social networks with the largest number of active users worldwide and although it is popular with people, few know how the “algorithm” works on the platform, something to what Adam Mosseri, head of the social network, already gave an answer.
According to the executive, in this social network, who determines or supervises what people do within the application. “We use a variety of algorithms, classifiers and processes, each with its own purpose,” explains Mosseri, who also mentions that one of his main proposals is to use technology to personalize the experience.
That is why each part of the app (Feed, Explore, Reels) uses its own algorithm and this is adapted to the use of people. Therefore, if someone tends to search for their friends in Stories, but uses Explore to search for new or different accounts, this area will show content that has little to do with the publications of their close friends.
Within the Feed and Stories, Instagram works based on “signals”, which range from the time a publication was shared, whether the person uses a phone or is on the web, or how often they like the videos.
From these “signals”, Mosseri comments, the content is ordered, prioritizing the popularity of the publication. Likewise, the profile of the person who posted is taken into account, since the “signals” in this element indicate how many times people have interacted with that person in recent weeks.
Finally, user activity contributes to understanding what the user might be interested in based on “signals” such as how many publications they have liked and the history of interaction with someone, which gives an idea of how interested they are in seeing their publications. .
“With this data we make a series of predictions. These are educated guesses about how likely you are to interact with a post in different ways, ”among which are spending a few seconds on the post, commenting, liking it, saving it, or touching the profile photo.
So the more likely the user is to take an action, the higher the post will see. However, they also implement systems to not show a single type of content or posts from the same person in a row.
Reels, meanwhile, is designed to show content from accounts that a user does not follow, as it is oriented towards diversity and entertainment. However, Mosseri emphasizes that their operation is dictated by assumptions of what the person might like based on their interactions.
In relation to the phenomenon of shadowbanning or silencing by the platform that some content creators suffer, Mosseri acknowledged that they have not always been clear in the explanations of why they eliminate content, which has increased the problem, in which they committed to improve.
“We can’t promise someone that they will consistently reach the same number of people when they post. The truth is that most of your followers will not see what you share, because most of them look less from your Feed, but we can be more transparent “, concluded the executive.
Therefore, if a user wants to have a greater influence on what they see, they can select their close friends, silence people whose content does not interest them and even mark the recommended posts as “I am not interested” so that their incidence is reduced .
