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April 1, 2016

The End of An Instagram Era (Or, How Everyone Prematurely Freaks Out… Again)

Insta Begging

In case you haven’t heard (or aren’t a user of social media, or possibly live somewhere so far off the grid that you can’t receive internet service of any kind), Instagram announced that it would be tweaking its algorithm for delivering posts to users. This change, rolling out in testing over the next few weeks, aims to serve up the types of content that users are more likely to engage with. Based on a user’s content interactions and habits, Instagram will begin to determine the priority of what they see in their timeline.

Reactions (no, not the emoji-esque Facebook icons) have been mixed, to say the least. The (misinformed) doomsday prophets are once again proclaiming that this is the end for the platform, while uneasy brands and influencers (great and small alike) are clamoring (cough – begging?) for followers to ‘turn on notifications’ to continue to receive updates. All in all, most people are just scratching their heads. Why fix something that isn’t broken?

Realistically, this change signals the beginning of a shift away from the wholly organic, creative content curating/hosting/sharing platform that Instagram currently exists as. Switching to a monetization model is no easy task at any point during the lifespan of an app or social media platform, as users become accustomed to service with a clear and defined set of expectations. And as Instagram gathers more insight into users’ behavior and preferences, the incentive to pressure brands to advertise on the platform grows.

One big factor in this argument surrounds personalization. Who better to determine what you want to see more of, than yourself? Before lamenting the death of the chronological feed, remember: when it comes to IG, you are already likely missing out on a LOT of content. Says Kevin Systrom, co-founder and chief executive of Instagram: “On average, people miss about 70 percent of the posts in their Instagram feed.” If Instagram can successfully discern your interests, then the assumption can be made that priority will be given to the content you would (hopefully) find interesting anyway. Good content is still king: until they completely gate your content behind a paywall, unique and refreshing creative will still positively supplement strategic paid posts.

While it’s not foreseeable that Instagram will go full-Facebook (requiring brands to fork over cash to achieve any kind of exposure for each post), this change shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, we’ve been here before. And before… Seeing the pattern? In a piece for The Drum, James Whatley, digital director at O&M London advises, “Let the dust settle. Remind all that we saw the same thing when we hit ‘Facebook Zero’ way back when and the advice then was as it is now: understand the audience first and invest in paid thereafter.”

Currently, Instagram’s official stance is clear. For the time being, everyone should just take a breather… and possibly explore new longer-form creative directions with the quietly-announced expansion to 60-second videos?