Instagram’s algorithm is now live

Instagram’s algorithm mirrors that of its owner, Facebook, in that posts are being presented in the order of “likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting, and the timeliness of the post.” Instagram said the change is because people miss as much as 70 percent of pictures from account they follow under the chronological format.

“Over the past few months, we brought this new way of ordering posts to a portion of the community, and we found that people are liking photos more, commenting more and generally engaging with the community in a more active way,” Instagram explained in a blog post.

The change will likely ignite some panic amongst brands since companies that see low engagement won’t be pushed to the top. Lucky for them, however, Instagram debuted tools this week that lets small companies pay the app to have their posts boosted to the top. Sexy brands, like fitness, food and beauty that garner tons of engagement should be fine.

Not everyone is seeing the changes immediately. Those who are seeing it don’t always like it:

I am not a fan of the recent update to the Instagram app. The algorithm is horrible. I want my “feed” to be in chronological order.

— William Roberts (@SangeanLover) May 25, 2016

Please, @instagram, give us an option to turn off the algorithm feed. I know what I want to see. Trust me to find it, ok?

Ad rendering preventing in staging

Ad position: web_incontent_pos1

— Lauren Morrill (@LaurenEMorrill) May 25, 2016

Can instagram stop it with the algorithm. I follow everyone because I want to see their posts. On my time line. In chronological order.

— siobhan :) (@siobhancorn) May 25, 2016