Adam Mosseri, Instagram CEO
Instagram is bringing back a timeline, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri said during his testimony before the Senate Committee on the consequences for young people using the app. Adam was asked by the panel if he thought consumers should be able to use the Instagram app without "manipulating the algorithms," and the executive said he would give people the option to have a time feed. Then the company is working on the development of this option.
“We believe in more transparency and accountability and more control. We are currently working on a version of a timeline that we hope to launch the next year 2022,” Mosseri said.
Instagram chronologique
After the committee pressed for more details about the company's plans, Mosseri noted that Instagram was running various tests to give users more control over their experience. One of the ideas tested was "Favourites", which enabled users to choose a subset of people they want to see their account at the top of their feed. Mosseri said the other plan the company would have offered was a chronological version of Instagram.
“I wish I had the exact time to tell you now, but for now we are targeting the first quarter of 2022,” Mosseri indicated when the time option would be presented to the public.
Instagram chronological order followers
Instagram's switch to algorithmic feeding in 2016 was a controversial decision. Although filtered feeds became the norm across social media at the time, as they improved engagement metrics, many users were not impressed with the changes. Instagram even went on to agree to add more recent posts to its algorithm feed due to users' reactions in subsequent years after the new feed was launched.
In 2020, the company was revealed to be an in-house prototype of a "latest posts" feature that will let users learn about new updates through a special section in the app, but it wasn't a complete return to the opposite mode. The synchronized feed is like what Facebook offers today like the news feed option. The feature has not been made public to the global Instagram user base.
Now, Mosseri has promised that users may once again have the option of a chronological feed. But it's highly unlikely that Instagram would make this a default or even an obvious choice, given the benefits the algorithm brings in terms of keeping users engaged with the app.
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