Instagram is piloting several ways to display and sort content in its feed. One of them brings back a chronological feed or feeds that are arranged in chronological order.
Veteran Instagram users will be familiar with sequential feeds. But these feeds were removed in 2016, and replaced with feeds that are sorted by an algorithm based on user activity and preferences.
The return of the chronological feed on Instagram was revealed directly by the Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri while speaking about the safety of teenage users in front of the US Senate. Mosseri says he supports giving users a choice of chronological feeds.
"We are currently developing a version of the chronological feed that we hope to launch next year," Mosseri said as quoted from Engadget, Friday (12/10/2021).
Mosseri added that Instagram had been working on this feature for several months. The bespectacled man did not provide further information, but he said Instagram plans to launch it in the first quarter of 2022.
Instagram later confirmed Mosseri's remarks through several tweets on his official Twitter account. In a tweet, the application owned by Meta said that apart from a chronological feed, they are also working on a favorites feed.
"We're experimenting with Favorites, a way for you to decide whose posts you want to see first, and we're working on another option to see posts from people you follow in chronological order," Instagram tweeted.
The Favorites feature for the Instagram feed has actually been rumored for a few months. This feature allows users to select several of their favorite accounts so that their posts are always at the top.
In a subsequent tweet, Instagram said not all users would return to using chronological feeds. All sorting methods under development will be optional and can be selected according to user requirements.
