...By Henry George for TDPel Media.
Instagram’s algorithm now chooses 40% of the content that users see while scrolling on the social media platform, according to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Of that 40%, 20% is not from the friends or celebrities users follow but is selected by Instagram’s artificial intelligence (AI).
The AI chooses content based on users’ activity, history of engagement with an account or similar accounts, and popularity with other users.
The prevalence of AI content selection has resulted in a 24% rise in screen time on Instagram, boosted by the popularity of the TikTok-style Reels feature.
This increased prominence of suggested posts has led to user backlash in the past, although Instagram maintains that the posts are necessary to compensate for the lack of activity from friends and family on the app.
Instagram has responded to users’ concerns by introducing features that enable users to hide or filter the type of suggested posts they see, but the content selection will remain as an integral part of the Reels feature.
Instagram’s emphasis on AI-selected content reflects a broader trend among social media platforms, including the new Twitter home page, which includes tweets from users who are not followed, and TikTok’s “For You” feature.
Reddit, however, does allow users to disable recommendations from their home feed.
