Instagram is soliciting feedback from its users as it works to enhance its algorithm in an effort to catch up to TikTok.
Users of the social media platform, which is owned by Meta Platforms Inc., may now choose multiple items at once and mark them as “not interesting” on the Explore tab, which is the area of the app where users can find material and accounts they aren’t already following. A user could only mark one post at a time as irrelevant in the past.
Instagram is also experimenting with a tool that would let users mute specific words, hashtags, or emojis that might appear in posts from individuals they aren’t already following in their news feed.
Tessa Lyons-Laing, Instagram’s director of product management, said in an interview: “We recognize that people sometimes want different things from different sessions, or their interests or needs from Instagram change quickly over time in a way we’re not going to be able to reflect in our ranking alone.”
Say a user was searching for information about wedding planning in the months leading up to their big day. That person might not want to see that kind of information now that their wedding is ended, according to Lyons-Laing. They could be able to scrub their feed more quickly with these changes.
Over the past two years, Instagram has made significant changes to its program, increasingly filling feeds with information created by algorithms rather than posts that users have elected to follow. It’s a direct response to competition from a burgeoning rival, TikTok from ByteDance Ltd., which has captured the interest of younger users with its algorithmically created “For You” feed.
TikTok distinguishes out in its ability to introduce users to new interests and communities based on their behaviours on the app, unlike Instagram and its sister app Facebook, who are specialists at suggesting material relating to what it knows you already enjoy and who you follow.
Users are upset with Instagram’s imitation of TikTok’s strategy, and reality TV star Kylie Jenner has even called for an outright boycott.
