Great news for everyone complaining about how they miss the chronological feed on Instagram.
You actually already have it!
Instagram gives its users three different feed options:
- Home: The default feed, where the algorithm decides what content from your friends you see first, as well as “recommended” and “promoted” content from people you don’t follow.
- Favorites: You select your favorite accounts so you don’t miss anything important (think family members, best friends, your fave celebrities, @creatorpeptalk 😉, etc).
- Following: This is everyone you’re following in chronological order. No ads, no recommended content.
NOW … here’s the truth: You actually don’t want the chronological feed back.
Try it, and see how quickly you get bored.
Plus, if you’re using Instagram to market your business, you really don’t want your audience to switch to the Following feed.
The Following feed will likely reduce user time on Instagram. Why? Because the first few posts in their chronological feed might not hold their attention. Which means, odds are they won’t scroll down far enough to see your post.
The whole reason Instagram switched to an algorithm-inspired feed is to keep users entertained by showing them content they like, which keeps users on Instagram longer.
The good news …
These feeds were introduced a few years ago and a very small percentage of Instagram users even know they exist, and an even smaller amount actually use them.
You don’t actually want the chronological feed back … what you really want is the good ole days of Instagram where the app had fewer options and fewer users, which (ironically) meant your filtered square photos reached more people.
So we have two choices: continue to feel frustrated with Instagram because it’s not how it was in the past, or evolve our thinking and our content to meet Instagram where it’s currently at.