Instagram’s suggested posts may soon be interspersed throughout your feed, in some cases appearing ahead of posts from people you follow.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS:
- Instagram is testing post suggestions in the main feed
- Recommendations may appear ahead of friends’ posts
- There’s no way to permanently disable the feature
- You can influence recommendations, however
- Based on feedback, Instagram may nix the feature
Instagram’s test puts suggested posts in the main feed
Having rolled out the Suggested Posts feature in 2020 following a successful test, Instagram is now considering injecting posts from similar accounts you follow right into your main feed. For people included in a limited test, suggested posts appear interspersed throughout their primary feed, sometimes ahead of their friends’ photos and videos.
Instagram has confirmed that it’s testing the feature with a “small number of users,” telling TechCrunch that the test includes a snooze option that removes recommended posts from a user’s primary feed for 30 days.
To help influence these recommendations, Instagram lets those included in the test offer feedback. Unfortunately, the option to permanently disable suggested posts in the main feed doesn’t seem to be present at the moment.
→ How to disable suggested posts on Instagram
On top of that, Instagram is also testing new controls to help shape recommendations by letting you choose from predetermined interests as well as add new ones and remove specific interests.
It’s unclear if the latest Instagram test will be successful given its controversial nature. People generally expect to only see posts from relevant accounts they follow in their primary Instagram feed. Interspersing suggested posts throughout users’ feeds could be met with strong resistance.
As it stands right now, Instagram puts recommended posts at the bottom of your feed, requiring you to scroll beyond a “You’re all caught up” message to view recommendations.
But as we said, adding algorithmic recommendations to the bottom of the app is one thing but mixing them with images and videos from accounts you do follow throughout your primary feed could result in a major backlash.