Instagram is planning to bring back its chronological feed next year, according to an executive at the company, who spoke to US lawmakers at a Senate hearing on Wednesday about Instagram and teen safety.
"We're currently working on a version of a chronological feed that we hope to launch next year,' said Instagram head Adam Mosseri. He said the company has been working on the feature "for months". Instagram itself later clarified in a tweet that it's not switching everyone to a chronological feed - something it stopped using about five years ago. Instead, it's "creating new options" and "providing people with more choices".
We want to be clear that we're creating new options â€" providing people with more choices so they can decide what works best for them â€" not switching everyone back to a chronological feed. You can expect more on this early next year!
â€" Instagram Comms (@InstagramComms) December 8, 2021
This is a huge reversal for both Instagram and Mosseri, who just this past summer claimed in a blog post that a chronological feed made it "impossible for most people to see everything, let alone all the posts they cared about". Mosseri even said Instagram's use of the chronological feed caused many users to miss posts from the accounts they followed. "By 2016, people were missing 70% of all their posts in feed," Mosseri said.Â
Instagram hasn't yet shared additional details about how its new version of a chronological feed would work, let alone how it might prevent users from missing posts they might actually want to see, but Mosseri said the company is "targeting the first quarter of next year" for a launch.Â
Meanwhile, Instagram is in the hot seat and answering questions for Congress about its algorithms rank and suggest content, especially for teenagers and younger users. Lawmakers have also been considering ways to regulate "malicious" algorithms.
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