Of the three social networks in this post, Instagram is the newest to an algorithm-run feed. Although Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, it didn't fiddle with catering content to specific users until April 2014, when they tweaked the "Explore" tab to display posts specifically tailored to each user. Before that change, the "Explore" tab had only showed the most popular posts across all Instagram users instead of specific users.
Even more recently, there have been rumblings about an impending change to Instagram's algorithm that'll alter your Instagram feed pretty drastically. A post to Instagram's official blog on March 15, 2016 said, "To improve your experience, your feed will soon be ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most."
As with Facebook, the goal of this change is to improve user experience. After all, Instagram reports that people miss 70% of the content on their Instagram feeds on average.
How It'll Work
The folks at Instagram say they want to focus first on optimizing order. In other words, all the posts will still be there, just in a different order. The algorithm will likely order the content on your feed based on the following factors:
1) The number of Likes and comments a post has.
An Instagram spokesman told Tech Insider that it won't be a popularity contest. That being said, the number of Likes and comments a post gets will be given some weight.
2) Your relationships with the user posting.
If you tend to Like photos from certain accounts, or regularly leave comments on pictures from those accounts, then Instagram will likely show you more posts from them.
3) The timeliness of the post.
To maintain some emphasis on chronology, the time at which the photo was posted will have some determination of where it shows up in your feed so you're seeing timely posts.
4) What you share directly with users (and who those users are).
What posts you share directly with other users -- and who those users are -- will make it more likely that you'll see posts from those users in your feed.
When Will These Changes Roll Out?
How soon are we talking, here? According to Instagram's blog post on March 15, 2016, the change will roll out to users over the next few months.
Again, it's likely that the first sign of a change will be a change in the chronology of posts, so keep an eye out for that as you scroll through Instagram over the next few months.
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