Instagram users can rejoice once again because the ability to view posts in chronological order is back. The feature's return, which the company previously removed half a decade ago in lieu of a more algorithmic feed arrangement, has been much anticipated. The algorithmic timeline has been a chief complaint among Instagram users who preferred to see content in the order when they were shared, with the most recent posts leading the stream of content.
This update comes as part of a new initiative to give Instagram users different ways to choose what to see in their feeds. For now, there are two feed arrangements to choose from. 'Following' will show posts from people the user follows, arranged chronologically. 'Favorites' is a special feed that'll be comprised of accounts earmarked by the user — such as in-real-life friends or favorite celebrity follows — whose posts will be given priority and pushed to the top of the feed.
To switch from the default algorithmic ranking of posts to the revived chronological order, launch the Instagram app and press the 'Home' icon at the bottom-left corner of the screen. Next, tap on the Instagram logo in the top-left corner of the home page and choose 'Following.' Posts from all the Instagram accounts the user follows will then be arranged according to the time they shared it, with the most recent ones appearing first.
Chronological Vs. Algorithmic: Which Feed Is Better?
Over the years, social media platforms like Instagram have opted for the algorithmic arrangement of posts from their users. They have continued to develop features designed to adapt to a person's habits on the app. For example, personalized recommendations can benefit users who have specific interests and are only interested in limiting their content exposure to things they like and enjoy. However, this can be troublesome when a user starts to interact with more Instagram followers and follow even more accounts on the app.
An algorithmic view of the Instagram feed tends to be saturated with content from the same people, while other accounts the user may have followed in the past and forgotten about may not appear at all. Studies have also shown that although seeing content on Instagram that's supposedly based on a user's taps, comments and searches may seem intuitive, algorithmic feeds can be harmful and cause people to have intellectual isolation that results in an often distorted or biased worldview. As a response, plans to overhaul the Instagram feed and provide users with view options were first announced in December 2021 during a Senate panel hearing investigating the effects of algorithms on young users.
For now, it seems like the algorithmic ranking of posts is still the default for Instagram. However, those who would like to see more than the usual posts recommended by Instagram can try out one of the two new feed filters on Instagram's iOS and Android apps. The Following and Favorites feeds are currently unavailable on the web version of Instagram.
Sources: Instagram, TechCrunch, The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation