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Mobile Syrup

Instagram head shares more details about return of chronological feed

After revealing this week that Instagram was working to bring back the chronological feed, head of Instagram Adam Mosseri posted a Q&A detailing how the new chronological feed would work.

Mosseri first mentioned that the chronological feed — previously the default on Instagram before it was removed over five years ago — would return during a Senate hearing on December 8th. Instagram later confirmed the plan, noting that it was experimenting with several feed types.

In the Q&A posted December 10th (available via Twitter), Mosseri reiterated that the Meta-owned image sharing platform aimed to bring back the chronological feed “early next year.” Further, he said that one version of the feed would let users pick their favourites and they would “show up at the top of the feed in chronological order.” Presumably, that would apply to the ‘Favourites” feed previously mentioned by Instagram.

The other version of the feed would let users view posts from everyone they follow in chronological order. However, Mosseri didn’t share how recommended posts would factor into the new chronological feeds.

The Favourites mode will arrive first — Mosseri said it’s already in testing — and full chronological will come after.

Finally, Mosseri clarified that Instagram wasn’t moving away from the algorithmic feed. Instead, the app will give users a choice between algorithmic and chronological feeds, similar to Twitter.

Those interested can check out the full Q&A below (reposted to Twitter):

Source: Adam Mosseri (Twitter) Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Instagram will bring back ‘a version’ of its chronological feed next year

Meta-owned Instagram plans to bring back “a version” of its chronological feed next year, according to company head Adam Mosseri.

During a Senate hearing on Instagram and teen safety (via Engadget), Mosseri said he supports “giving people the option to have a chronological feed.”

“We’re currently working on a version of a chronological feed that we hope to launch next year,” said Mosseri, noting that the company had been working on it “for months” and that it aimed to launch the feature in the first quarter of 2022.

Instagram later confirmed to Engadget that it was working on a chronological feed option as well as a ‘favourites’ feed that will surface posts from designated friends. Both will be optional, and Instagram shared on Twitter that it’s adding choices so users “can decide what works best for them.”

The confirmation comes after developer and reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi recently found an Instagram feature that would let users sort their feed by ‘home,’ ‘favourites’ or ‘following.’

It’s not clear if any of those include the chronological feed. Another recent Instagram test saw the company add ‘suggested posts‘ to users’ feeds.

Adding a chronological feed would be a significant shift for Instagram, which previously removed its chronological feed more than five years ago. Since then, Instagram has vigorously defended its algorithmic feed even as it faced increased scrutiny over how its algorithms ranked and suggested content, particularly for younger users.

The move may also be a ploy to ward off potential regulation. Mosseri’s testimony before the Senate comes as part of a wider set of hearings about teen mental health, which has so far heard from executives at Snap, TikTok and YouTube. Further, U.S. Congress introduced a bill in October to strip Section 230 protections from online platforms that recommend harmful content to users.

Regardless, fans of the chronological feed will be happy to hear Instagram is bringing it back. However, it remains to be seen if Instagram’s “version” of a chronological feed will satiate users, if it will be beneficial or if it will perpetuate existing problems with the platform.

Source: Engadget