In a video series, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri explained that the feed ranks posts by predicting how users may respond, with recency also important, and advised creators seeking reach to focus on engagement rates rather than total views or likes.
Mosseri said ranking is meant to help people see relevant posts; without it, he argued, feeds could be dominated by high-volume business and brand accounts, leaving people with less content overall and lowering creators’ average reach. He said Instagram favors original posts, gives more weight to recency, shows public posts from small creators to non-followers to gauge responses, and uses expanded AI models that consider more factors.
Users can shape what appears in their feeds with Favorites, Not interested and Your Algorithm, which lets them add or remove topics Instagram has linked to their interests. Mosseri also advised creators to experiment as trends change, said trial Reels can help, and recommended posting frequently while managing their time to avoid burnout.
