Weekly Notes: Instagram Algorithm Rocks The News!

This week in social has plenty of sensational news from Instagram. Read about the top 5 biggest headlines that have been trending during the last few days!

1

Instagram Algorithm will change

Facebook’s reach is dead and that’s a fact. Who would guess Instagram would be the next one so quickly? According to WERSM interactions on Instagram have dropped by 40% in 2015, which means this channel becomes less effective in keeping the audience active.

Reasons? Older generations joining Instagram and in result youngsters leaving for cooler platforms, oversaturation with too much sponsored influencer content and of course, advertising. The article shows a graph with not only lower interaction on images but also video posts and in general, the follower growth.

So what Instagram’s response? Killing the chronological order of viewing posts on your main screen to favour more influential and trending posts jumping to the top.

In a blogpost Instagram explained that people miss on average 70% of their feeds because, as the platform grew it has become harder to keep up with everything that our friends share.

– says Instagram.

And that’s true – as majority of users view Instagram content on their mobiles, they do eventually get tired of constant scrolling. A thematically organized timeline would make much more sense. Instagram is thinking about showing the posts that are relevant to the user, based on his or her recent activities, friends or interests.

This also means, Instagram may choose not to display certain posts to you, if they think it’s irrelevant. And that also means more space for advertising, which will further decrease the interaction rate. Developers haven’t announced any specific launch date yet, however they are testing the functionality right now. At this moment, your timeline stays just like it used to be.

2

Instagram introduces dates of the posts

Let me just say this – FINALLY!!! It has been so long that all marketeers had to guess when the post was shared and now this feature is finally implemented. Just remember to check your mobile app and not the desktop version, as it’s not implemented there yet. On desktop, you can still see the ugly “x w”, which indicated how many weeks or months ago someone posted for the last time.

Mobile version is so much cooler – the exact date of the post will be shared under the comments section. Hence, if you posted something even a minute ago, you will be able to see it precisely. Do you think this is a good enough placement to show the date of the post?

What is great to notice is that all posts from the past will also receive the date, as long as the information is read on mobile. Am I really excited about it? Naah, some of the tools have been doing that for me already and I could also work immediately cause the programs were available for desktop. Next step? Adding reach metrics to the posts!

3

Facebook New Profile Picture “Filters”

I call them “filters” because they remind me of Snapchat Lenses, but according to Facebook itself, those will be called “Frames”! Do you remember my article about the video profiles within Facebook Mobile app and their new frames that we could install for few days?

Since Facebook has introduced modifications to our profile pictures (e.g. a French flag to remember the victims of Paris attacks), the world has picked up on this trend. Facebook is now offering many different frames, so that everybody can change their profile picture from time to time.

You can find them here and start customizing your own profile picture. Select from many different categories, e.g. sports or movies and then choose for how long do you want to display the picture. This is a way nicer way of saying “Out of Office” when you’re on holiday.

I have to say I tried it, but at the moment there aren’t any interesting filters to me. There’s so much international and local sport teams, that I’d prefer to wait for more frames. I’m also doubting if the frames can be targeted or even better, for sale to advertisers!

4

Pinterest opens advertising to everyone (in US)

FINALLY! This will change the lives of many marketeers in the US. At the moment, this feature is only available to small and medium business living in the US. If you have a business page on Pinterest you can also start advertising from wherever you are, but be aware that you can only sell in dollars.

Pinterest doesn’t stop here. They also added a new targeting feature which enables marketeers to target email addresses. There are also rumours that they’re about to roll out new, native videos ads which would be integrated directly into the platform. The feature is now being tested within Pinterest and will be available probably soon.

5

Goodbye Meerkat!

Meerkat is not going home yet, but it will reorganize into a platform for movies, instead of a live streaming app. Since last two years since Periscope and Vine were bought by Twitter and Snapchat came with their live stories, Meerkat has been struggling with keeping the pace. Also, it has not been present that much in Europe, decreasing its chances to become successful again.