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The Instagram Apocalypse šŸ˜±

Written by Tom Strangwick | Mar 29, 2016 11:55:08 AM

Over the Easter weekend, you may have noticed that Instagram was flood with things like this:

 

So, is it really the end of the Instagram as we know it?

The simple answer is no, not just yet.

As I loaded the Instagram app multiple times this weekend, I was spammed with ā€˜Turn On Notificationā€™ images. Everyone was posting them: celebrities, brands and even a few of my friends. I thought the end was nigh and began to frequently check all of the time stamps as I scrolled through my feed, only to find that nothing had changed and my feed was still being arranged chronologically.

Instagram first announced the new algorithm changes two weeks ago, but they took to Twitter yesterday to reiterate that these planned changes will not be taking place immediately (basically, telling everyone to CHILL). An Instagram spokesperson told the Guardian Australia: that it will be ā€œweeks, if not months of testingsā€ before being rolled out to a small test group.

So we can all relax. For now. The changes are still scheduled to take place in the future; it echoes the algorithm changes Facebook made to their feed in 2014. There was a similar public reaction when that news broke, but the world still carried on spinning in the end. It seems that we donā€™t like to be told what we will like, especially not by computers. But Facebookā€™s News Feed Product Management Director, Adam Mosseri, explained that ā€œrecency is just one important input into what people find meaningful, but we have found over and over again itā€™s not the only one.ā€

We advise against turning on any Instagram notifications as itā€™s likely to become incredibly annoying and subsequently diminish your Instagram experience. Imagine walking into the office on a Monday morning as you receive a notification that your favourite celebrity is partying on their yacht in the Caribbean ā€“ itā€™s not what you need.

Instead, just interact with the posts and accounts you like and that way, your feed should be organised to reflect this. For businesses, though controlling the algorithms or where your posts rank in someoneā€™s feed is soon to be out of reach, focussing your efforts on creating quality content thatā€™s relevant and engaging to your followers is not. Thatā€™s where to focus your worry!