Instagram Head Adam Mosseri confirmed during a senate hearing last week, Weds 8th, that Instagram are working on bringing back the chronological feed for early 2022!
I don’t think you’d be surprised to hear that the current version of the Instagram feed is widely disliked. The almighty algorithm rules over us all, it’s ways cloaked in mystery, leaving posts always getting lost amongst the crowd. However, there is hope! Though Instagram has always tried to maintain that people enjoy their algorithmic feed, it seems they’re finally caving to popular demand to create a chronological timeline option.
During a senate hearing on Weds 8th Dec where he was speaking about child safety, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, confirmed that they’ve been working on this feature for a few months and are targeting early 2022 for a launch. And just like waiting for buses, it seems there will be two versions of the chronological feed to choose from! Adam did a live Q&A on his Instagram Stories on Friday 11th and explained some more details.
The first version allows people to “pick your favorites and they show up at the top in chronological order” while the other lets you see your whole timeline in chronological order, though he didn’t explain how recommended posts or ads would be mixed in - we all know the algorithm isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. During this Q&A, Adam said they’re already testing this feature - so some of you lucky people may already have access to this!
I think it’s safe to say that the time of posting will become more important than ever now. Do you know when you should be publishing your content? If not, I’ve taken a look at various studies and surveys done around the world to bring you the definitive guide to posting times (Disclaimer - there are a lot of variables so of course this isn’t really definitive but it should be a good start!)
The majority of studies recommend posting during weekday lunchtime hours, 11am - 1pm but avoid Mondays as this traditionally gets lower engagement (Sundays also aren’t great for this!) Posting before and after office hours, 7 - 9am or 5 - 7pm, is also great for getting more people seeing your work, particularly for models and photographers. If you’re posting make-up looks, the best time for this is Thursdays and Fridays at 3pm whereas the best time for hair stylists is 5pm on a Wednesday. Obviously, these are generalisations so keep an eye out for when your own audience is most active. The chronological feed should definitely make this a lot easier to work out!
In the meantime - you can use one of my favourite tools, the Instagram Post Planner from InfluencerMarketingHub. Simply input your username and the location where the majority of your followers are found (this can be seen in the Audience part of Insights) and the tool will show you the best times to post for your account.
