Instagram finally reveals how its algorithm works and the shadowban that shows or relegates content

instagram It is a network that has managed to remain a friendly site and not as plagued by dangers, misinformation and false news as most of the social networks that were born in the same generation and that remain active to this day.

But during all that time one of the biggest mysteries that had remained a great unknown for his community was everything related to the operation of your algorithm.

The matter was harmless during the first years of the platform’s existence, but since they acquired the social network with Mark Zuckerberg, it is a fact that its existence began to feel more evident.

To date we can see how the algorithm ends up profiling each account when we navigate between the Stories and some advertising insertion appears, or in the discovery or search tab.

Where we see a mosaic of images published by accounts that we do not follow but that we could perfectly like.

In parallel there is the phenomenon known as shadowbanwhere an account ends up buried or even hidden in the feed of all its followers when it publishes certain content or exceeds the volume of publications.

The variables that caused all the scenarios described since Meta bought the app had been an absolute mystery. Until now.

Meta talks and reveals how the Instagram algorithm works

Through a post on his official blog of the platform, Adam Mosseri, CEO of Instagram, has shared with the community some of the details about how the ranking algorithm works on his platform.

In a way, this publication is a kind of damage control, where the executive tries to clear up some misconceptions about the classification system, confirming that there is no single algorithm for the entire application.

In fact, each area and section of the platform has its own algorithm that adjusts and integrates with the others in a gear:

“Instagram doesn’t have a singular algorithm that monitors what people do and don’t see on the app. We use a variety of algorithms, classifiers, and processes, each with their own purpose. We want to make the most of people’s time, and we believe that using technology to personalize everyone’s experience is the best way to do that.

Each part of the app—Feed, Stories, Explore, Reels, Search, and more—uses its own algorithm tailored to how people use it. People tend to find their closest friends in Stories, use Explore to discover new content and creators, and stay entertained in Reels.

We categorize things differently in these different parts of the app, and we’ve added features and controls like Nearby Friends, Favorites, and Follow so you can further personalize your experience.”

In summary, when using each section of the application, the different algorithms that intersect according to our behavior pattern are activated. This is how a sort of classification system tailored to the users is generated.

The history of interaction, reciprocity, activity and lack of saturation are then decisive for a publication to reach the target audience or not.

In the end, everything is a fight to show up first and to the top of the feed. Don’t forget to follow us on our official instagram account!