Instagram Reels has become a fundamental part of the content sharing experience on the platform, providing users with an engaging way to create and explore short, creative videos.
Therefore, the Instagram algorithm plays a crucial role in the selection and excellence of the content displayed to users, ensuring that they are presented with relevant reels, based on their interests and previous behaviors.
To do this, Instagram’s algorithm uses a combination of signals and data to provide users with the most relevant and engaging reels possible. These signals include user behavior, such as likes, comments, shares, and saves.
Additionally, Instagram’s algorithm considers user behavior patterns and the collective behavior of the community to identify trends and popular content.
This way, if a certain type of reel is receiving high engagement from other users, the algorithm can increase its visibility, displaying it to a wider audience.
Mysteries about the algorithm
The way Instagram’s algorithm determines exactly what each user will see in their feed and Explore section isn’t always transparently revealed. This can lead to a lot of questions about how the Artificial Intelligence (AI) behind these decisions works.
Instagram, like many other social media platforms, keeps specific details about its algorithm and how it operates private.
While the company provides some general guidelines on factors that can influence content selection, such as specific interests and content popularity, the precise details of how these factors are weighted and combined are often unknown.
Image: Facebook/Reproduction
But that must change…
The mysteries surrounding the Instagram and Facebook algorithm are gradually being revealed, as Mark Zuckerberg’s company recognizes the importance of transparency and appears to work to make its platforms more accessible and understandable for users.
These efforts include initiatives to give users more control over the content they see and how it is presented.
For example, platforms are rolling out settings that allow users to indicate their interests and adjust display settings, personalizing their experience. This allows users to take a more active role in choosing the content they want to see in their feed.
Currently, users have the ability to select what content they do not want to see on Instagram and Facebook platforms through the “Not Interested” feature.
This button gives users a way to provide feedback on the content presented to them, indicating that they no longer wish to see similar posts in their feed.
In addition to existing options like the “Not Interested” button, Meta, the company behind Instagram and Facebook, is committed to providing even more transparency regarding how content is selected and presented to users.
Nick Clegg, president of Global Affairs at Meta, highlighted that the upcoming updates to the platforms aim to provide users with more complete information about how certain content reaches them.
One of the initiatives in this regard is the improvement of a feature, which is the “Why am I seeing this?” button. By selecting this option, users will receive clear and specific information about the factors that were essential for the selection and display of posts or ads in their feed.
Clegg commented:
“You’ll be able to click on an individual reel to see more information. Plus, you’ll understand how your past activity may have informed the machine learning models that shape and deliver the reels you see.”
