The same developer who discovered that Instagram was playing with the idea of hiding likes, Jane Manchun Wong, found a prototype for a chronological feed buried deep in the IG code.
According to Wong, it’s not quite the same as the chronological feed that many people love and miss. The algorithmic feed would still be the default, but users would receive a pop asking them if they would like to “catch up” on what they missed. If they say yep, it’ll take them to a chronological feed. If they say not now, they’ll go to the feed with Instagram’s algorithm.
Does this signal that Instagram is actually listening to what their users want? Although the algorithm has been beneficial for some business pages, it’s gotten a lot of flack from most users, both from a consumption and creation standpoint. Creators are upset that their content isn’t getting in front of all their followers, and consumers want some variety in their feed, not just the same kind of things all the time. An option to move away from the algorithm could be a great step towards a more customer-centric approach.
Turns out, though, that this prototype was just part of an internal hackathon, and there are currently no plans to implement it externally.
So if this even does go into beta testing (and it may not), it will probably be some time until it affects regular users’ feeds
Dang. Maybe someday soon.
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Hannah Michelle Lambert is the Social Media + Events Coordinator at Worthix, as well as the host of the monthly CX News Recap segment. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
