Instagram introduces ‘Following’ and ‘Favorites’ feed modes

Instagram made a delighting announcement yesterday, March 23, that it is bringing back our favorite chronological feed. Making things more exciting, though, is the fact that the new feed modes come in two choices that can help users have more control over the content they will see on the platform: the “Following” and the “Favorites” modes.

In a blog post made by Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, it was detailed how the two feed modes differ from one another. According to Mosseri, the Following mode works as a traditional chronological feed where you’ll be able to see the latest posts of the people you are following in reverse-chronological order. This should enable users to be updated about the recent posts from various accounts.

On the other hand, Favorites will also present the latest posts in chronological order. Only this time, the Favorites tab will only show the content from the accounts you only selected or included in your Favorites list. Here, you can add up to 50 accounts. You have control over this list, and you can change it anytime. In addition, Mosseri mentioned that the people who will be listed and removed won’t be notified by the app: it’s solely for your own viewing. Posts from the accounts added to the list will also be shown up higher in your home feed with a star icon as an indicator.

Accessing the two modes is pretty simple. You can tap on Instagram in the top left corner of your home page to choose what you see. This will let you toggle between the two modes, whatever you think suits your taste. In relation to that, users should know that the standard Home view that uses the proprietary algorithm for feed ranking is still the default, and it is still different from the Following feed mode. Choosing this default mode will still provide you with the same content, but you’ll get them in no particular order together with the recommended posts based on your activities.

And while the new modes are the best way to escape those irritating recommended content, it might only be for a little while since Mosseri voiced out that they have plans for these feed modes in the future. In the press release, Mosseri writes: “Over time, we’re going to add more recommendations to your feed based on your interests.”

It is a bit dismaying as that would probably spoil the beauty of the new feed modes. But for now, let us just enjoy them while they are still free from such pestering content from sources we don’t even follow.