Instagram is making it easier to keep your feed clean. The app now categorizes the accounts you are following so that you can mute or unfollow the ones you don’t really want to keep up with.
It does so in two ways. It has categorized two potential groups you might want to see less of. First are the accounts you have barely interacted with in the last 90 days. And in Instagram’s lingo, interact means likes on posts and reacts on Stories.
Instagram’s Discreet Effort To Make You Unfollow People You Really Don’t Care About
At the expense of sounding like a creepy stalker, it’s worth mentioning we all probably follow some people we want to keep tabs on without making it too obvious. Similarly, sometimes we follow accounts that we are interested in but interacting with their posts doesn’t seem necessary.
However, a large chunk of accounts that you haven’t interacted with in the last 90 days are probably the ones you aren’t interested in any longer.
The other group is the accounts who appear on your feed the most. These are usually the ones Instagram thinks you are interested in the most. However, this list might also contain accounts that post a lot.
And if you are wondering, there can be an overlap too. But either way, by categorizing different accounts, Instagram is making it easier to purge your feed. After all, this is a decade old app now, and manually sifting through the following list is no easy job.
Speaking of old, Instagram now offers new ways to list the accounts you are following. Either you can keep the default setting, or sort according to the date when you started following an account.
This, again, can be very useful if you want to cut back on the number of people you are following. You can easily unfollow or mute accounts that you followed long ago but have lost interest since then.
Similarly, you can check out the accounts you have started following recently and bid adieu if they seem irrelevant already.
We Will Probably Be Spending A Lot More Time On The App Now
On the surface, this might sound snobbish. But theoretically, it’s an effort by Instagram to ensure your feed and stories only feature accounts you want to keep abreast of.
The company says that it aims to make it easier for people to manage accounts they follow so they accurately represent their current connections and interests.
For users, this means they will no longer be overwhelmed by accounts they don’t care about. For Instagram, this is also an effort to keep more people glued to the app.
That’s because the new changes will result in a feed that’s only filled with accounts users are really interested in.
With a torrent of high-quality posts and Stories coming their way, users will keep scrolling for longer. Otherwise, boring content can make them exit the app.
And, of course, the latest changes will have a chain reaction. That’s because the Explore section will also show the posts, stories, and IGTV videos that you are more likely to find engrossing.
To see the new features, just go the app, navigate to your profile and select “Following.”
Want to see which Instagram accounts show up in your feed the most and who you interact with the least? Now you can! Just tap “Following” and manage your list from there. pic.twitter.com/eKFOBCdutr
— Instagram (@instagram) February 6, 2020