Think you have Instagram’s algorithm on lock? Well, you need to think again! Influencers (and anyone whose job relies on social media) are now up against a new challenge; they will all need to find ways to maintain their ranking and performance on Instagram with the new algorithm.
On April 20, Adam Mosseri, also known as the head of Instagram, revealed the latest features that will launch on the platform in the following tweet:
To put it in another way, Instagram is making changes to the way it ranks content, giving original content and work an advantage over stock and repetitive content. Mosseri explains it even further by stating:
“If you create something from scratch, you should get more credit than if you are resharing something that you found from someone else. [As such] we’re going to do more to try and value original content more, particularly compared to reposted content.”
However, the new process is not perfect nor is it easy to grasp, which is why Mosseri took some time to answer users’ questions and give them a better understanding of how they should proceed to post on the app.
First of all, you won’t be penalized for uploading content that was edited outside of Instagram. Mosseri announced that you will be free to bring in your content via the gallery without it affecting your ranking on users’ feeds. However, content that will feature visible watermarks or logos in Reels will be disfavored but will not be affected for regular posts.
Second of all, posting history will also play a role when it comes to ranking as active content aggregators will be identified by Instagram and their content will be labelled as unoriginal, putting them at a disadvantage and leading them to have a lower reach. For example, reposting memes might have been a great way to increase engagement but it is no longer the case.
Having said all of that, even Mosseri himself admits that this process is not irrefutable as there is no certain way for Instagram to know if the content is 100% original. For instance, the algorithm will be looking for replicated posts to search for unoriginal content; nonetheless, this entire can be thrown off “if it’s someone pretending to be the original creator, which is less likely but could happen, it’ll be hard for us to know.”
This update is a positive change for persevering content creators who put in a lot of effort to come up with innovative ideas that can truly add quality to their followers’ feed; what’s important is to discover how you can navigate these updates to reach more and more people by the day.