Instagram expands its feed today with the launch of “suggested posts.” These messages, from accounts you do not follow, will appear after you reach the end of your feed and give you the option to continue with Instagram suggestions. So far, the feed has been completely determined by the preferences of users and the people who follow them.
Over the past few years, Instagram users have shown a message when they reach the end of their feeds, which means they have seen every post of people they follow for the last two days. With suggested messages, they have the option to continue scrolling to this marker for more content. (That message will still be there, along with the option to view old messages.)
The suggested messages will not be the same as those that appear in Explore. They will be related to the content that people are already following, while Explore aims to get people focused on relevant content, says Julian Gutman, Head of Product at Instagram Home. He used space content, which he regularly follows and enters on his feed, as an example. A proposed post could be a new space photo of someone he does not follow, while his Explore page may contain messages more related to physics.
Gutman declined to comment on how often people reach the end of their feeds on a daily basis. There will be ads in suggested posts, and only photos and videos posted on the roster will appear first, which means you will not be watching teased IGTV or Reels content.
The move feels like a major reversal of Instagram’s attitude two years ago on screen time. When it launched the end of the feed notification, the company’s former CEO and co-founder Kevin Systrom positioned it as a decision made with users’ mental health in mind. He said at the time the company was working on “tools that will help the Instagram community know more about the time they have spent on Instagram,” adding that “every time should be positive and intentional.” But suggested messages could easily keep people on the app longer.
Gutman says the product is not designed to keep people glued to their phones.
‘I think this really came to us from a vision a few years ago to people who really see feed as a place for their interests, and with the improvement in machine learning and our ability to make it kind of easier for you to see more of those posts that are on Instagram every day, and to really bring that personal relevance to you, ”he says. “We just want to make it easy for people to see that [relevant content] when they reach the end of their feed. That’s really the motivation here, making it easier for you to go deeper on your interest. ”
The proposed posts also feel like Instagram is taking a cue from TikTok, which is throwing users on a continuous feed of content that never ends. It’s part of what made the app so successful. Of course, extending the feed also gives Instagram more advertising space, allowing it to monetize further. It’s a win-win for Instagram, even if it means users will potentially spend more time than ever in the app.
