Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Instagram users have long theorized about how “the algorithm” works to rank content on the platform and why some users’ posts seem less visible than others. Now, Instagram is opening up the hood on its recommendation system to explain why you see certain posts — at least partially.
In a blog post, the company breaks down its ranking system by where a user will encounter content: the main feed, Stories, the Explore page, and Reels. There are countless pieces of information companies like Instagram use to predict what users will want to see and interact with, and there’s not one singular, all-knowing algorithm that drives…