Your Facebook activity influences what appears in your Instagram feed
Ever wondered why certain friends' posts appear at the top of your Instagram feed?
Well, the reason isn't solely down to the fact that you might have liked their Insta posts a few times. Your Facebook activity also influences whose content is prioritised in your feed.
SEE ALSO:Does the timing of your Instagram post impact its performance?Now that our Instagram feeds are no longer arranged by chronological order, our feeds now use something called 'feed ranking' to show us content from people we are close to.
Mashable spoke to Instagram Design Lead Jill Nussbaum and Product Lead Julian Gutman about how our feeds work.
Nussbaum said the reason the feed is no longer ordered chronologically is because people were missing posts from the people they care about.
"One of the main reasons was people were missing the posts that mattered to them," said Nussbaum. "So before we introduced ranking in 2016, people were missing 70 percent of their content. Over half of that content was friends and family."
In 2016, Instagram ditched chronological ordering and introduced "feed ranking" which prioritises posts that are "most important to you."
So, how exactly does Instagram know what matters to you? Well, it uses machine learning to analyse your data from your Instagram activity, according to Gutman.
"Feed ranking is powered by machine learning which is a technology that uses historical data to make predictions about the future," said Gutman. "And the way we use machine learning in feed ranking is we analyse people's historical Instagram usage to predict which of your posts are going to be most relevant to you."
Gutman added that machine learning is "constantly adapting and evolving over time" based on how you're using Instagram. So, that means your feed will continue to tailor itself to the accommodate new friends or new interest in pre-existing friends.
"We use a lot of signals to determine the posts that are most relevant to you," Gutman added. Some of those "signals" include things like "how likely are you to be interested in that content," in addition to how recent the content was posted, and how close you are to the author of the content.
So, how exactly does Instagram work out how close you are to certain people? Do our interactions on Facebook play a part in this?
"We use Facebook data to tailor's people's experience in a couple of ways," Gutman said.
When asked, Gutman didn't give any specifics about what those signals might be, but did say that being friends with someone on Facebook is "one of the factors in terms of understanding your relationship."
He added that those signals comprise "different ways that you might express your intent in terms of how that person matters to you" on both Facebook and Instagram — so make of that what you will.
"We've kind of learnt over time which signals are more important than others," he added.
Featured Video For You
How one artist creates sculptures that are only visible from one angle
-
NCT member Taeil leaves band over sexual offense allegationsYouTube just made TV advertising more affordable than everKorea to build network of smart expressways by 2020Korean Peninsula tensions key topic for Obama's talks with Xi: White House'Metaphor: ReFantazio' handsGoogle might be making a Home Hub节约能源 从点滴做起Google Maps wants to be the only app you need for your commuteHow much will PCB's Champions Cup mentors be paid?YouTube just made TV advertising more affordable than ever
- ·AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods 4 may get revealed at the Apple September event
- ·Prosecutors appeal Blatter, Platini acquittal
- ·Tottenham's problem solving pleases Conte
- ·Elon Musk straight
- ·Trump won't stop making a deceptive bird claim. Experts debunk it.
- ·Yoon says any meetings with North Korean leader should be for 'tangible' results
- ·Apple plans to sell a clear case for the iPhone XR
- ·Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello join the summer of sloppy kisses
- ·Expanded police surveillance will get us “broken windows” on steroids.
- ·Airline gives us a good reason to actually use AR
- ·S. Korean, U.S. nuke envoys agree on close consultations over N.K. aid issue
- ·Tottenham's problem solving pleases Conte
- ·Wordle today: The answer and hints for August 29
- ·Elon Musk and electric vehicles will win the energy battle against Trump's favorite fuels
- ·Facebook's fight against fake news is actually working. Sort of.
- ·Samsung A9 has four rear cameras
- ·DNC 2024 speech: Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have a superpower no other Democrat has.
- ·Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello join the summer of sloppy kisses
- ·Amazon.com burns for the Amazon that 'really matters' with this Chrome Extension
- ·Yoon says any meetings with North Korean leader should be for 'tangible' results
- ·'Metaphor: ReFantazio' hands
- ·Prosecutors appeal Blatter, Platini acquittal
- ·British politician slouches in Parliament, instantly becomes meme
- ·North Korean leader vows to 'preemptively' contain nuclear threats by hostile forces
- ·味道真系正!怀集食材邂逅顺德厨艺
- ·Kante to miss France's World Cup defence
- ·Klarna CEO reveals plan to reduce workforce by 50% and replace it with AI
- ·Korea to check alternate sites for THAAD
- ·South Korea remains open to another summit with North Korea: minister nominee
- ·FIFA to help Qatar migrant workers
- ·Garmin Fenix 8 vs. Apple Watch Ultra: The Fenix wins big on battery life
- ·Startups founded by parents, for parents, solve kid
- ·Peugeot says self
- ·Apple Wallet will support college student ID cards on iPhones
- ·Haider all set for Paralympics Ceremony
- ·DuckDuckGo, the pro