Today, Instagram is expanding its feed with the launch of ‘suggested posts’ feature. These suggested posts, from accounts that users do not follow, will show up after they have reached the end of their feeds. The feature is designed for users to keep scrolling through Instagram’s suggestions and spend more time on the app.
There will be ads in suggested posts, and for now, only photos and videos posted on the grid will show up which means that content from IGTV and Reels will not show up in suggested posts.
Instagram Adds Suggested Posts Feature
Since the past few years, a “You’re All Caught Up” message appear on the screen when users has viewed all the posts uploaded by the people they follow on the app. With the addition of the new Suggested Posts to the feed, users will have the option to continue scrolling past that message and explore more content and creators. Users will still be able to revisit old posts on their feeds.
Head of Product at Instagram Home, Julian Gutman said,
“I think for us this really came from a vision a couple years ago around people really seeing feed as a place for their interests, and with the improvement in machine learning and our ability to kind of make it easier for you to see some more of those posts that are on Instagram every day, and really bring that personalized relevance to you. So we just want to make it really easy for people to see that [relevant content] when they get to the end of their feed. That’s really the motivation here, make it easier for you to go deeper on your interest.”
The launch of suggested posts makes it feel like the company is changing its position on screen time. When it launched the end of feed notification, the company’s former CEO and co-founder, Kevin Systrom, stated that this was a decision made with users’ mental health in mind. He said at the time that the company was working on “tools that will help the Instagram community know more about the time they spent on Instagram,“ adding that “any time should be positive and intentional.” But suggested posts can easily increase screen time for users, which can have an adverse impact on their mental health.
On the other hand, the new Suggested Posts features brings monetary benefits to the social media giant for expanding the feed gives the company more ad space and it encourages users to spend more time on the social media platform.
Instagram rolls out QR codes worldwide
Instagram is also launching in-app QR codes worldwide via an update. The intention of this feature is that businesses can print their QR code and have customers scan it to open their Instagram account easily. From there customers can look at store hours, prices and they can follow the account. According to the company, QR codes help to connect small businesses with their customers in an innovative way.
QR codes are especially useful for businesses right now due to the rising demand for a ‘contactless experience’ by customers who want to stay safe amid the global pandemic.
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