On March 23, 2022, Instagram announced two new features, known as “Favorites” and “Following,” to its photo and video sharing platform. The Favorites tool allows users to choose their top 50 accounts to follow, which are then given a star and listed higher up in chronological order on their home feed. No notifications are sent out to others regarding their status on someone else’s Favorites list, and users can change the list at any time. The Following feature shows posts from people that users follow in chronological order as well.
The change comes after several other shifts the social media platform has made. In December 2021, Meta, Instagram’s parent company, changed its algorithm to prioritize Reels, which are videos posted on the social media platform. “We’re going to double down our focus on video,” Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, shared. “We’re no longer just a photo-sharing app.” When users create a Reel, it can be up to one minute in length, and can be recorded and edited directly in the Instagram app. The video appears on the user’s feed and the discovery page where visitors can explore content.
