By: Nick Gambino
When Instagram took a cue from parent company Facebook a few years back and replaced chronological feeds with some kind of tornado-influenced algorithm, a lot of users were none too pleased.
I would venture so far as to say, there are probably just as many users demanding Instagram return their chronological feeds as there are nuts demanding Warner Bros. release the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League. (And for the record, there’s way too many people on that bandwagon.)
Now, it seems Instagram might be listening to the outcries of their loyal users. Thanks to the cunning insight of Jane Manchun Wong and her awesome reverse engineering skills, we are able to see that the social media platform is testing a new feature called “Latest Posts.”
“Instagram is working on “Latest Posts” feed for catching up feed posts,” Wong says in a tweet. “This sounds like the chronological feed people are asking for. Similar, but not the same.”
Instagram is working on “Latest Posts” feed for catching up feed posts
This sounds like the chronological feed people are asking for. Similar, but not the same 👀 pic.twitter.com/AUMwlZGtUr
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) February 14, 2020
As she noted, this isn’t exactly what people are looking for, but it’s a step in the right direction. The feature is basically a home screen pop-up that directs you to catch up on the newest posts from Instagram users you follow.
Once you click through, you are brought to another screen where you can see these recent posts. I’m no programmer, but it just seems so much easier to just allow people to see their feed how they want to see it. There should be an option to switch between chronological and whatever this current algorithmic feed is called.
Now, as soon as this was reported, Facebook decided to set the record straight on why this feature exists at this prototype stage.
In a later tweet Wong says that, “Facebook said this Instagram’s ‘Latest Posts’ feature came from their Hackathon, where employees come up with creative ideas, but said they have no plans of moving forward.”
Whether this is just a fancy tap-dance or the honest truth, it looks like we won’t see the feature for a while, if at all. At least we know there are some efforts being made to placate those who aren’t big fans of the current format of their Instagram feed.
