Instagram’s algorithm is now live

Instagram’s algorithm apocalypse is upon us.

The photo-sharing app confirmed that it’s rolling out the new feed to all users beginning today, three months after Instagram first announced the move.

Instagram’s algorithm mirrors that of its owner, Facebook, in that posts are being presented in the order of “likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting, and the timeliness of the post.” Instagram said the change is because people miss as much as 70 percent of pictures from account they follow under the chronological format.

“Over the past few months, we brought this new way of ordering posts to a portion of the community, and we found that people are liking photos more, commenting more and generally engaging with the community in a more active way,” Instagram explained in a blog post.

The change will likely ignite some panic amongst brands since companies that see low engagement won’t be pushed to the top. Lucky for them, however, Instagram debuted tools this week that lets small companies pay the app to have their posts boosted to the top. Sexy brands, like fitness, food and beauty that garner tons of engagement should be fine.

Not everyone is seeing the changes immediately. Those who are seeing it don’t always like it:

https://digiday.com/?p=181258

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