See the Moments You Care About First | Hacker News Reader

See the Moments You Care About First

blog.instagram.com

35 pointsmsoad17 comments

The reason they want to do the algorithmic streams is that it opens up vast opportunities for monetization. It used to be on Facebook you'd be able to reach any one who liked your page if you were a brand. Now the only way is to pay Facebook. None of this is by accident. The stream algorithm is the engine that drives the sky-high value of Facebook.

I know one household consumer brand with 1+million fans. They spend a ridiculous amount boosting Facebook posts. Otherwise about 10 people will see a photo.

No no no no ugh please no...

I want to see my friends' pictures. In the order they post them. I do not want a computer trying to determine which of my friends are more important to me, I assure you it will be wrong.

UGH I say.

++UGH

I wonder how many instagram users have a manageable number of friends and can easily scroll and see all new photos. Now I'm worries I'll miss photos from friends because the feed re-order them.

Please forgive my rambling Wednesday musings, but this trend toward curated content from social media apps seems to be mimicking the capitalism-critical idea that "the rich get richer and the poor get poorer".

These algorithms are likely prioritizing likes/favorites/followers/friends to determine what you probably want to see. People who are established in the ecosystem already (those who were "born rich") have an advantage. Meanwhile the guy who only averages one or two likes is destined for obscurity even if he or she drops a bombshell quality photo/comment/whatever.

People use and love social media because every like is an expression of someone paying attention to your life -- a reaffirmation that your moment is special to others in some way. If all of a sudden you get less attention because the system determines your contribution is not worthy of that attention you're more likely to leave the ecosystem.

I think it's really interesting that metrics apparently support facebook and twitter constantly moving towards curation.

I enjoy consuming content chronologically because I can go from [what I saw last] to [now] and never miss anything, but I guess most people follow too many things and/or don't have enough time to exhaust their feeds throughout the day.

I personally wouldn't get as much out of Hacker News if hckrnews.com didn't exist.

Yes. I stopped using Facebook as much when they got rid of the chronological order feed. I know Twitter keeps talking about it and if they truly went to it then it would destroy the service. I don't use instagram but I'm sure it's the same thing.

It's obviously not for user benefit, so I think it's mainly a monetezation thing. Once you aren't committed to showing things in chronological order, you can charge to appear at higher spots. This is what happened at Facebook -- work businesses and organizations put in to get organic "likes" was suddenly made worthless, but coincidentally here's how to purchase ads!

Twitter have implemented it, but it's an optional global setting (for now).

It's not about you, it's about advertisers. Nowadays advertisers can make an IG page and have "free" impressions

The thing that stopped me using Facebook and start using Instagram more is now coming to Instagram. Thanks, Facebook! I hope you give me the option to revert for a while before making it too annoying to do so.

This marks the day when Instagram switched from providing a service for their users to providing a service for advertisers. With this algorithm in place, they can also sell premium positions in people's feeds. For this reason it also marks the start of a slow, eventual decline. It won't happen for a long time, but eventually Instagram will be replaced when the gap between user needs and what they get becomes too large, and a competitor appears with a solution to those needs.

I really hope there is an option to choose if you want the curated version or the chronological one. I always check Instagram posts up until the point I left previously, and I don't miss anything that way.

welcome to the filter bubble 2.0

Since Facebook bought Instagram, it has been quite enjoyable to watch which features Facebook borrows from Instagram and vice versa. Moving Instagram towards more of a News Feed will probably improve the interface for most users

We definitely need better filtering on incoming feeds so we don't inundate our attention-spans. But Facebook's curation algorithms are one-size-fits-all. While that might work for a general search engine looking for information in the wider world, it's dangerous in personal communication. You suddenly have a third-party deciding and making value judgements about what you should or should not see.

Like a TV channel interspersed with ads.

Isn't this what Twitter users wanted to revolt over?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com