this Instagram algorithm debate as although it’s not something I am excited
about – I’m pretty happy controlling what I see myself thank you very much, I thought we had it covered with the ‘no-one actually knows what it’ll
mean, so lets wait and see what actually happens and deal with it then’ point
of view people seemed to have settled into.
But yesterday happened and my feed
was taken over with ‘Turn on Notifications’ posts.
I’ll confess, I came close to
posting one myself, and then I thought ‘am I turning on any notifications? Am I
bollocks’. I don’t want my phone to flash every time someone I follow posts a
picture. I have a few insta accounts on my phone and the one for the dogs
follows more than a thousand other puppies*. We interact with lots of them
regularly – too many to turn on notifications for. No way do I want to know every
time they post. My phone might explode. Or I might have a flashing phone melt
down. It’s just not going to help me.
And I’m not really that
interested in you having a notification induced breakdown over every picture I
post of my breakfast either, or every time the puppy does something cute, so I deleted
the ‘turn on notifications’ image from my phone, even though it was super
pretty, and had gold flecks and a beautiful font! I am so selfless!
Because as far as we know,
turning on notifications won’t mean that when ‘the change’ comes those are the
posts that will be favoured, it just means your phone will beep more. But
following the Facebook algorithm changes, what we can expect is it’ll be the
people you interact with that will be weighted in your algorithm posts. So as
far as I can see it, there are two things we should be doing in the run up to ‘the
change’;
-
Start interacting with accounts you like! This way Instagram will know you like them. Start liking. Start commenting. Tag them in other posts. Engage with the people you want to see more from.
- Post better stuff! If you are worried about your engagement (and really, who isn’t!) start posting images and captions that mean your followers will interact with you. Pick your best pictures, not the ones that will ‘just do’. Write something to make people comment. Encourage engagement.
And then, if the changes come, and I need to take further action, I’ll address
it when we know what we’re up against. But in the mean time I am going to try and make
Instagrams algorithm skew in my favourite when it does arrive.
doing to combat it?
If you’re not following me – you can get on it here too –
*FYI, if you have a dog, dog Instagram is such a friendly place to be. Get on it!