After testing a new “Recommended for You” feature, Instagram is now rolling it out globally. From now on, Instagram’s algorithm will pick the posts you might like, and they’ll be in your feed even though you don’t follow these accounts.
As Tech Crunch writes, this feature is similar to the Explore Feed feature on Facebook. Well, at least to Explore Feed in some countries, as it works differently in the others. In addition to the posts from the accounts you follow (and plenty of ads), you’ll now have a “Recommended for You” section. It’s based on the likes of the accounts you follow, and it will reportedly contain three to five suggested posts. So, you don’t need to check your friends’ likes (if you even do that) or go to the Explore section. It will all be there for you as you scroll through your feed.
Fortunately, the “Recommended for You” section will not appear randomly as you scroll. According to Tech Crunch, you’ll only see it after you’ve seen all the posts in your feed. However, you won’t be able to hide it completely. During the test phase, it was said that the users will be able to hide the “Recommended for You” section. Well, this has apparently changed as the feature started to roll out. You will be able to hide the section, but only temporarily, according to Instagram’s Help page. Personally, I find features like this annoying. I follow the specific accounts for a reason, and if I need suggestions, I can look for them myself. Apparently, there are other users who share the opinion. Additionally, many of them would also prefer chronological to algorithmic order, and I agree with that as well. Or at least, I’d like an option to choose between them, like I can do on Facebook.
— CHRIS KLEMENS (@ChrisKlemens) December 27, 2017
For now, the “Recommended for You” is still being rolled out, and not all users have it yet. But even those who do don’t seem too pleased about it. It’s not said when the rollout will be complete for all users, but I’ve noticed that I don’t have it yet. Do you? And what do you think of it? [via The Verge, Tech Crunch]
