Instagram has made yet another change to its algorithm and is tweaking the way it ranks content to help “value original content more.”
Instagram Head, Adam Mosseri recently made the announcement in a video on Twitter, claiming that the change was in line with Meta’s broader goal of empowering creators.
Mosseri said:
If you create something from scratch, you should get more credit than if you are reshaping something that you found from someone else. We’re going to do more to try and value original content more particularly compared to reposted content.
Mosseri further clarified that the social platform already tries to prioritize original content, however, it is “becoming increasingly important that [we] don’t overvalue aggregators.”
📣 New Features 📣
We’ve added new ways to tag and improved ranking:
– Product Tags
– Enhanced Tags
– Ranking for originalityCreators are so important to the future of Instagram, and we want to make sure that they are successful and get all the credit they deserve. pic.twitter.com/PP7Qa10oJr
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) April 20, 2022
He added that the company is trying its best to ‘predict’ whether a published photo or video is original content, but the company “cannot know for sure”.
In a comment to TechCrunch, an Instagram spokesperson said that the platform’s ranking algorithm will now prioritize ‘original content,’ especially for the Reels and Feed tab, over reposted content.
The move comes after Instagram took major steps to incentivize creators to post original content on its platform, rather than editing videos and re-sharing them from TikTok or other social apps. However, the latest change seems to be targeted toward discouraging meme accounts that collect and share popular memes and other re-posted content.
Instagram has also tested removing the ‘Recent’ tab from the hashtag page, which the company claims helped users connect with “more interesting and relevant content.” However, users will soon see two tabs only – Top and Reels.
