With almost every person next door in the world is on Instagram, there’s a lot of content that people consume. We spend a lot of time-consuming the content but have we ever wondered how Instagram chooses and personalizes our content? What’s the algorithm behind this? This is the question that intrigues all of us, not anymore now.
Instagram revealed the secret through which they decide what is the content that we see and how it is filtered and personalized. Interesting, isn’t it?
Instagram wrote in its Tuesday blog post to inform and shed light on how their technology works and who it impacts experiences on the app. Instagram says that it looks at the way we interact with the users which enables them to show the content they surface.
Every single thing is considered. Our posts, history of interacting with someone, commenting on their posts to find what interests the users. It also uses the information of the person whose content we see and how many likes and interactions it took to show that person’s account on your explore page.
Instagram also reveals the five interactions it uses to dictate what you see like the time you spend seeing the post, like, comment, share and things like that and then makes educated guesses to decide. Every single thing is taken into scrutiny. Such great advanced system and algorithm.
Further, it also reveals that it doesn’t use a single algorithm but a variety of algorithms to decide the content interface.
The company says it ranks content differently in stories feed and exploration such as tailoring content from your closest friends to you in stories.
There are a variety of critics who said that these algorithms that Instagram and other social media apps are using, which are designed to keep you from scrolling, are the root cause of a lot of problems. Studies have shown its link for reasons of depression, addiction, with feelings of isolation.
This is very well true. Now, the people are spending so much time on social media apps scrolling that they have taken a detachment from their surroundings, family and friends. Without a doubt, there’s great content available on the platform but we should limit it as well.
Social media is one reason for depression, lower self-esteem, and loneliness. With so much going around in the world, the number of people dying and people sliding into poverty, we as a society should reach out to people instead of isolating ourselves by scrolling.
We can use the platform for better things and help as many as we can. It’s just the way we use it.
