Instagram is changing its algorithm. Here’s how

Besides putting new posts higher up, Instagram said it is testing a “New Posts” button so that users can refresh their feeds when they want to, rather than automatically being transported to the top in the middle of browsing. less Besides putting new posts higher up, Instagram said it is testing a “New Posts” button so that users can refresh their feeds when they want to, rather than automatically being transported to the top in the ... more Photo: Marissa Lang Photo: Marissa Lang Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Instagram is changing its algorithm. Here’s how 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Instagram is changing its algorithm to make things a little more timely.

Users are now likely to see newer posts higher up, the image-sharing app said last week, adding that its feeds will “feel more fresh.” Instagram’s algorithm, in other words, won’t be meddling quite as much. More images and videos will be allowed to bubble up as they come.

The company also said it is testing a “New Posts” button so that users can refresh their feeds when they want to, rather than automatically being transported to the top in the middle of browsing.

The changes are in response to user feedback. They appear to address some common gripes, like how certain posts can keep appearing on your screen for days and days and days, or how your feed can begin to feel skewed in favor of the same old friends you habitually double-tap.

“We did this via a number of changes, including an adjustment so that very old content does not get bumped up higher in (the) feed,” said Gabe Madway, Instagram’s spokesman.

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He added that the Menlo Park company is not returning to a chronological feed. As Instagram said (apparently addressing users in the Western Hemisphere): “If your best friend shares a selfie from her vacation in Australia, it will be waiting for you when you wake up.”

Still, the move appears to dial back, even if only slightly, the major change that came in March 2016 when Instagram said feeds would be “ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most.”

Instagram is one of several social media companies that are striving to find the right balance between arranging content chronologically and ranking it according to machine-learned impressions of relevance.

Twitter’s feed is largely chronological — though it is has been known to experiment with ranking, sometimes irritating users — while Facebook, which owns Instagram, relies more heavily on algorithms, meaning well-liked content and posts from good friends tend to show up front and center.

“Instagram’s feed ranking is powered by machine learning, which is constantly adapting and improving based on new data,” Madway said. “But this is a nice change that people should notice.”

Pew Research Center reported this month that Instagram use is higher than that of Twitter, Snapchat and WhatsApp, at least in terms of the percentage of Americans who say they use it. (By that measure, only Facebook and YouTube are more popular.)

Last year the company said it had 800 million users interacting with the app on at least a monthly basis.