- Instagram is giving you access to your algorithm
- For now, it’s only Reels
- You can even share what you learn about your interests
Some describe social media algorithms as black boxes, dark spaces that have substantial control over what you see but offer virtually zero insight into how they do their dark magic. Instagram is changing that equation today by opening up just a little bit of the inscrutable programming and letting users – with AI’s help – take the wheel.
Instagram announced the “new way to control your Instagram experience” in a blog post on Wednesday (December 10), explaining that the change will allow users to both see and control their Reels algorithm.
Reels is the longer-form video content and most closely resembles TikTok, another social media platform with a powerful and inscrutable algorithm.
Don’t worry, when you see the new algorithm access icon (two lines with hearts), you won’t be looking at code. Instead, using AI in ways it does not explain, Instagram shows you what it understands about your interests. What you watch most or for the longest, what you like, what you share, and even what you quickly swipe through all shape the Reels algorithm. That detail, your interests, will now appear listed in the summary of topics list at the top.
Here’s where it gets interesting, though; you can now muck about in your algorithm, entering topics you want to see more of, as well as those you’d rather remove from your feed.
Instagram promises “your Reels will reflect your choices.”
Perhaps even more surprising, Instagram will let you share your algorithm, or at least the interests you like, in a Story post.
When I first heard about this, I kind of laughed out loud, since there are more than a few memes about the dangers of, say, your spouse or partner seeing what your algorithm reveals about you.
Reels algorithm access is, apparently, just the start. Instagram promised to bring the feature to Explore “and more places in the app, soon,” which we take to mean that eventually, you’ll have access to your full Instagram algorithm.
Why now?
After years of criticism that Meta and Instagram have not done enough to protect their users (especially teens) from harmful content, Instagram has been taking a far more aggressive approach to content control. Most of it has been on the side of parental controls. However, this is the first big step to truly putting control in the hands of users.
Most people scratch their heads and wonder why certain things show up in their feeds while other topics do not. This may lift that veil of confusion, but also reveal how Instagram has been watching us. People’s Reels feeds should become far more curated and maybe end up feeling like safer spaces.
I am curious about how this might impact advertising since we all know how an in-person conversation with a friend or relative about a potential trip to Paris almost immediately results in Paris videos in our feed (this is not alchemy; the friend has probably searched in Instagram or Facebook about Paris and, since you’re connected, well, your feeds is infected with Viva La France). Perhaps now, you can go into your algo center and remove that Paris topic before the full-blown feed infection.
Instagram is likely also doing this to help bring people back to Instagram. There’s some indication that Gen Alpha – the next target market – is leaving social media. Perhaps changes like this – real algo control – will help bring them back.
This might also put some pressure on other social media companies like X (formerly Twitter) and, especially, TikTok (which is supposed to soon be US-owned and controlled) to make their algorithms publicly accessible and curatable.
Instagram says Reels algorithm control is rolling out across the US today and will roll out globally (for English-speaking markets) soon.
Check it out and let us know your thoughts – and wild algo discoveries – in the comments below.
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lance.ulanoff@futurenet.com (Lance Ulanoff)
