Did you know that Instagram reports that people miss on average 70 per cent of the content shared on their Instagram feed? And just like facebook, as the number of users grows there will be changes made by the platform to ensure that content remains relevant. Instagram is getting crowded and with people now following hundreds of accounts and seeing dozens of new photos per hour the good posts are getting lost, so change is needed just like it was on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms.
But the Instagram changes announced last week have led to a flurry of posts overnight to ask users to turn on notifications to ensure that content is seen. However, turning on notifications can also be a poor user experience, so before you produce a post urging your followers to make sure that you’re seen, think about what this really means.
We’ve seen similar announcements made in the past by Facebook and Twitter as they make tweaks to the way that their content is seen and it’s not always a bad thing. If you followed 1000 people, the people you interact with the most will have their content featured first and you can still see the other content, it’s just often not in chronological order and means you need to scroll a bit. I love the analogy that Thanh Do from ‘I Eat Blog‘ made via their Instagram post – it’s like you have a deck of cards – you will still see the cards but you may see them out of order.
So changes are coming, but as reported by Instagram (on Twitter ironically) the changes are not happening today so it’s very much a case of watch this space closely.
TURNING ON POST NOTIFICATIONS
Turning on post notifications will mean that your users receive a message to their mobile phone every time you post on your feed. Not only will this kill your phone battery, but will be incredibly annoying and I suspect many will unfollow.
OUR ADVICE?
Good content will always triumph and if you’re producing relevant and engaging posts on Instagram your content will be seen. This is an area that continues to evolve and we’re sure that the powers that be at Instagram are keeping a firm eye on the hysteria and taking it into consideration about how they evolve. Just take a look at the explore tab of your Instagram feed and you’ll see how relevant some of the content is, so watch this space carefully.
Do your research (or keep an eye on our blog) before you join in the frenzy of posts urging your followers to turn on notifications and focus instead on developing some great content.
