Instagram Is Working On A Chronological Timeline

Instagram has announced that it is working on a new way for users to decide on how their news feed should sort the content they see.

Last week, Instagram announced that it is experimenting with Favorites, a feature that lets people choose between an algorithmic feed and a pre-2016 reverse chronological feed.

“We’ve been experimenting with Favorites, a way for you to decide whose posts you want to see higher up, and we’re working on another option to see posts from people you follow in chronological order,” explains the post.

We want people to have meaningful control over their experience. We’ve been experimenting with Favorites, a way for you to decide whose posts you want to see higher up, and we’re working on another option to see posts from people you follow in chronological order.
— Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) December 8, 2021

The social platform originally displayed all posts in reverse chronological order until 2016, when it started working on the alternative to prioritizing posts according to an algorithm that seeks to predict those posts the user would be most likely to like and engage with.

At the time, many users sought ways to work around the new feed structure, a sign that the change was not welcome.

Instagram has announced that it is working on new ways for users to decide on how their news feed should sort the content they see.

Click To Tweet

Now, Instagram wants to give back a certain level of control with the option to choose between the two. Instagram will still offer the algorithm-based selection, but will also provide different options on how to sort your timeline, including prioritizing more recent posts from followed accounts.

“We want to be clear that we’re creating new options — providing people with more choices so they can decide what works best for them — not switching everyone back to a chronological feed,” Instagram tweeted.

According to the announcement, users can expect the new feature sometime in the new year.

Share this story with your network: