Instagram creates chronological feed of Reels and Stories — in Europe
Meta has released the chronological feed for Reels and Stories on Instagram — but only for countries that are part of the European Union (EU). The update is a measure by the company to comply with the Digital Services Act (DSA), legislation of the political-economic bloc on consumer protection on digital platforms. The company also updated the search results, which will focus only on the keywords entered by the user.
One of the DSA’s requirements is that social networks allow users to choose not to receive personalized content. Earlier this month, TikTok released the function to disable the recommendation algorithm. The novelty is also exclusive to the 27 member countries of the European Union.
Instagram releases chronological feed on Reels and Stories
Instagram users in EU member countries can now activate the chronological feed in Reels and Stories, according to Meta on its official website. Indirectly, using this chronological feed “disables” the platform’s recommendation algorithm.
That way, users will see in Reels only what the accounts they follow have posted, and in reverse chronological order—from newest to oldest. On the Stories side, recommended content from unfollowed accounts has never been displayed.
However, as Meta itself explained weeks ago, Stories uses several factors to determine the order of the stories that appear to users – for example, interaction history and even the chances that you will know your “Followers” in person. Now, Europeans will be able to see only the latest stories.
What’s new in Instagram’s search engine
Meta also reported that search results on the platform have been “enhanced” for users in EU countries. Let’s put it in context: when we search on Instagram, the platform presents not only the results based on the keyword, but also with what we have already searched for and interacted with on the social network.
With the update, Instagram will base the search only on the keywords entered by the user.
More platforms need to conform to DSA
Meta and TikTok (listing in reverse chronological order) have already announced their updates to follow European Union standards. DSA divides digital platforms based on their sizes and reach.
At the “level” “Very Large Online Platforms” (direct translation), or VLOPs, are YouTube, Amazon, Wikipedia, Facebook, App Store, Snapchat, Twitter and others. All of them will have to be more transparent about their algorithms and provide options for users to view content without recommendation from the platforms.
In the case of “Xwitter”, the social network already has a chronological feed. However, Elon Musk and Linda Yaccarino, CEO of the platform, will have to publish more information about the algorithm of the social network.
