technology used by Instagram

                     INSTAGRAM'S ALGORITHM                             HANDLING AS PER 2019

In ancient times, humans would sacrifice animals and burn entrails in an often desperate attempt to divine the intentions of their mysterious gods. Today, we engage in our own series of baroque rituals hoping to curry favor with an equally mysterious and mercurial force: Instagram’s algorithm.

While its specific operation is a closely guarded secret, it’s not completely opaque. The social media scheduling tool HootSuite has published a detailed explanation of how it believes Instagram’s algorithm functions based on a briefing they’ve received from Instagram itself, plus their own research.

Here are some takeaways.

The algorithm uses “ranking signals” to help organize which posts appear where on your feed. So what are those signals? According to Hootsuite, there are three big ones: relationship, interest, and timeliness.

The relationship signal consists of cues that tell Instagram that you’re engaged with another user, including likes and comments on their posts, DMs, tagging, and whether or not you’ve turned on notifications for that user’s content. The interest signal is just that, an educated guess on the content you’re likely to want to see based on your past behavior on the app. Finally, the timeliness signal prioritizes posts of more recent vintage.

Hootsuite also dispels a few myths about how the algorithm works, including the idea that using Instagram Live and Stories will somehow make your posts more visible. “[T]he feeds algorithm doesn’t discriminate based on how often your account makes use of other tools within the app,” Hootsuite says. You’re also not getting a broader reach if you’re verified or have a business account.