How Changes to Instagram's Algorithm Will Affect Brands and Bloggers

In March, Instagram announced it will be unveiling a non-chronological feed this year. The platform which was acquired by Facebook, will soon be adopting a similar algorithm to filter the posts you see according to the content you engage with most. With this news, we saw a flood of reposted images instructing users to “Turn on post notifications.” Those who had the strongest reactions were Instagram influencers who generate revenue promoting brands to their thousands of followers. However, if these promotional posts aren’t receiving enough organic likes, they’ll start being seen lower in the feed and less in general. With a smaller reach, they’ll then become less appealing to brands.

The other challenge they’ll be facing comes with an additional feature Instagram is rumored to release — per-post analytics. This will provide users with details on how many views to likes a post got, as well as the gender, age and location of the engaged users. This sort of transparency is good for brands who are looking for people to partner with. On the other hand, it’s going to make it difficult, if not impossible for some influencers to fake their reach with purchased followers. So far, the updates seem to have positive intentions. If successful, the changes will not only bring us better-curated feeds, they might even help us engage with each other online better.