Instagram had announced the Favorites and Following features on February 18, 2020. However, these features were not released to all users until March 23, 2022.
That essentially allow users to curate their following lists on the basis of their likes and dislikes. Now users can manage the following lists easily as both are divided into two categories “Most Seen in Feed” and “Least Interacted With". Users can manage their following status and notifications, or mute an account. The point here is to give you the ability to customize your Instagram feed better.
Simply, it is done by making it easier to see which accounts you follow and love or hate. Then you can decide to unfollow those accounts based on your preferences.
-
Alteration in Following Tab
Lately, Instagram added the feature to sort your following from earliest to latest followed, which presents you a look back at relationships you have stopped cultivating and a reminder of the people you no longer interact with anymore.
-
Most Seen in Feed
Instagram will give a list of accounts that appears most in your feed. You should not be surprised to see a list of a bunch of brands you have been monitoring in your profile. Now, you can see accounts you do not interact with most often, and remove those accounts. While the most present list will give you more control over their algorithm-defined feed, if you don't like any of the accounts you see, you have the choice to remove them or unfollow them as well.
-
Least Interacted with
It presents you with profiles you have least interacted with. You can see those accounts you do not like much as you have not interacted with their posts. Instagram would essentially be recommending profiles to unfollow, as you have not interacted with them. That means Instagram understands what you want to see on this social media platform. Now the engagement will increase as you will see posts only from those you care about.
How to View Categories?
See it yourself by looking into your profile tab. Here is how you can check it:
- Head to the profile tab in the bottom right corner of Instagram
- Tap “Following”
- You can see “Least interact with“ and “Most Show in Feed” near the top.
Why Does this Matter?
Instagram wants to improve the user experience on this platform. Now you will see users only who belong to your category and type. It is against the traditional algorithm that encouraged others to keep following others. Now users can curate the list of accounts they like most. In other words, Instagram wants to make users' experience better instead of encouraging users to keep following other users.
See Also: Who Unfollowed Me On Instagram?
