Instagram Official Brings Back Chronological-Based Feeds To All Users

The official Instagram brings back a chronological / based feed. (photo; doc. instagram)

JAKARTA - More than five years after the company first switched to algorithm-based feeds, Instagram is now officially bringing back chronological-based feeds for all users globally.

According to Instagram last year, they were working on a new chronological feed for users. And now the company has officially fulfilled that promise.

Users now have two new options for displaying their Instagram feeds in chronological order, which brings the ability for users to view feed posts sorted by most recent.

Instagram Chronological serves as an additional option located alongside the standard Home algorithm feed. The first new option is dubbed the Favorites tab, which lets users select up to 50 accounts and view posts from those accounts in a dedicated chronological feed.

Thankfully, this isn't the only new option available to Instagram users. If they want to sort the entire feed in chronological order, that's also now available.

Referred to as the Following feed tab, it will show everyone's posts followed in chronological order, directly on the main tab of the Instagram app.

"People have a better experience on Instagram with ranked feeds, so we're not going to make people default to a chronological feed," Instagram said.

While it's nice to have both the new Following and Favorites options in the Instagram app for iOS, Instagram will still make the Home algorithm feed the default setting.

That default will be reset every time the user opens the Instagram app. That means, users have to manually switch to the Following or Favorites tab every time they open Instagram for iOS.

The return of the chronological feed is a big change for Instagram, which has for years defended its decision to switch to algorithmic feeds, despite years of complaints and conspiracy theories.

In June last year, Instagram published a lengthy blog post detailing how its ranking algorithm works. Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said when Instagram moved away from chronological feeds in 2016, people lost 70 percent of all their posts on the feed, including nearly half the posts from their close connections.

But with the advent of algorithms having become difficult for Instagram, the company often faces scrutiny for its impact on teens' mental health.

Meta's social network has now also become more aggressive in including suggested posts and Reels into users' feeds in recent months, as Facebook's popularity begins to decline.

By launching a new version of its feed now, Instagram can address complaints about its new recommendation-filled approach, and it offers users a choice about whether or not to use its ranking algorithm.