According to a digital marketing speaker Hong Kong, Instagram is the fourth most active social media platform all over the world. It can help brands and businesses reach 1.45 billion global users. Overall, a social media agency Hong Kong highlights the average engagement rate of Instagram business accounts is 0.88%. Recently, a video marketing agency Hong Kong noted that Instagram expanded as a photo-and-video-sharing app. That is why Meta published how Instagram suggests new content.

A Typical Instagram Feed

Instagram shared a story about a touring alien from a faraway galaxy. The platform mentioned that the IG home feed of such an Instagrammer is dominated by family & friends’ posts together with a few general accounts. As the user scrolls the explore tab, it will show a lot of science fiction blogs and some space travel magazines. All these delighted and surprised the said Instagrammers. It is because Instagram suggests new content about the user’s interests and preferences.

As you can see, Instagram offers two content feeds. These are the home feed and the explore feed. Instagram suggests new content about family, friends, and followers in the home feed. Instagram suggests new content about hobbies, interests, and preferences in the explore feed. The more an Instagrammer spends time browsing on the platform, the more the user will discover new interests.

Home Feed Ranking System

When you open the Instagram app, you will automatically the home page. It is where you will the home feed, which shows the latest updates from your family, friends, and followers. Instagram suggests new content on the home feed in chronological order – from the most recent to the older posts. The posts are divided into two sections. These are the “Favorites” and “Followings.” Favorites are posts from people that an Instagrammer prefers to see most. Followings are posts from people that an Instagrammer follows.

Instagram uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to suggest new content on the home feed. The platform ranks content according to user activity and interaction on another account. The breaking factor signals the rate of engagement that the post receives. These include comments, likes, saves, and shares. It means that the more a user connects to an account, the more visible the user will see content from the said account.

Explore Feed Ranking System

The Explore Page of Instagram is a collection of content based on the user’s behavior, interests, and preferences. It includes photos, Reels, Stories, and videos. No two explore pages are alike. It is because Instagram suggests new content on the explore feed based on the user’s taste. Instagrammers can access the Explore Page at the bottom of the app. There, users can find accounts, popular topics, and trends related to a specific niche or topic.

Instagram suggests engaging and relevant public posts on the explore feed. First, the platform generates all content that matches the user’s explicit or implicit interests. Then, it uses AI and ML to select the winning post based on ranking algorithms. Then, it suggests new content based on relevance and engagement.

Reference: https://engineering.fb.com/2022/08/12/web/how-instagram-suggests-new-content/