Still wondering how Instagram decides what appears on your feed? In its latest move, Instagram’s chief Adam Mosseri opens up the hood on the app’s recommendation system, providing more insights into the factors that influence post visibility. 

The new blog post, titled “Instagram Ranking Explained,” serves as an upgraded version of the company’s 2021 public explanation. 

Let’s unpack Instagram’s ranking algorithms together, according to the platform’s four main products:

• Feed: Besides the latest activity from accounts you follow, Instagram also leverages internal “signals” to make its educated guesses when recommending relevant content: time spent viewing a post, engagement patterns, format preferences, etc.
• Stories: These are ranked according to how often you view an account’s Stories and engage with them (dropping a like or sending a DM), as well as your relationship with the Stories’ author (friend or family member).
• Explore: Much like how Feed and Stories are ranked, Instagram shuffles post suggestions across the Explore grid based on popularity signals, your past activity, etc. 
• Reels: Instagram also pulls the same data to gauge the relevance of Reels then order them according to your interests. Utilized filters and overlay audios are also considered. 

In addition, Instagram provided a few tips-and-tricks to tailor your scrolling experience: setting up a Favorites list, carefully curating your Close Friends, temporarily snoozing recommendations for a month or even pushing that “Not Interested” button. On this note, an “Interested” version is currently in the works to give users more personalization control.

Mosseri also discussed shadowbanning, pouring cold water on the rumours around organic reach suppression and paid ads.In a nutshell, Instagram’s transparency efforts surely do not dish out the secret recipe to ranking success, but they’re still valuable pointers. Mind you, the timing is truly uncanny, as Instagram’s Twitter clone is set to sail in a few weeks. And oh boy, are many tweeters ready to jump ship!

Instagram Ranking Explained can be accessed right here.