Instagram today began rolling out a new Suggested Posts feature in its mobile app for iPhone and iPad to all users globally via a server-side update.
After you’ve seen all the posts from the accounts you follow, you now have the option to keep scrolling past the “You’re all caught up” marker to view additional content from people you don’t follow, based on people you do follow and other signals.
The Verge has more on that:
The suggested posts won’t be the same ones that show up in Explore. They’ll be related to the content that people already follow, whereas Explore aims to point people toward adjacent content, says Julian Gutman, head of product at Instagram Home.
He used space content, which he follows and engages with on his feed regularly, as an example. A suggested post might be a new space photo from someone he doesn’t follow, whereas his Explore page might contain posts related to physics more broadly.
The option to revisit old posts from accounts you follow is still there, for those asking.
Like with regular posts, suggested posts may feature ads. For the time being, only photos and videos posted to the grid will show up as suggested posts. Other Instagram content, including teased IGTV or Reels videos, do not currently appear as suggested posts.
Instagram’s obvious goal here is increasing engagement so that it could show more ads and boost its advertising revenue. However, as with all things Instagram does lately, this looks like it has the potential to become a polarizing feature.
Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be a way to opt out of these suggested posts clogging the feed. Also, no word of a chronological timeline yet.
How do you like this new feature of Instagram?
let us know in the comments down below.