As a reader of the SMK blog, you are all now aware of the forthcoming new Instagram algorithm that will rank content based on relevance rather than chronological order.

The official announcement from Instagram resulted in a sudden panic from Instagram users, with a huge amount of Instagrammers asking followers to turn on mobile notifications in response to the changes. This is silly and damaging.

A few things about Instagram changes:

• Instagram won't be changing right now – this is misinformation.
   
• There are still a few months of testing until it rolls out to more people.
   
• This early algorithm is not the same as Facebook. At least for now, all of the posts that could be in users Instagram feed will still be there (as opposed to filtering out the best or the worst), they’ll just be in a different order.

The algorithm is not bad for those creating good and engaging content – we will be rewarded.

The algorithm was inevitable considering the increase of brands and advertisers on Instagram.

Combined there are over 200,000 advertisers and 400 million active users on Instagra,m creating immense competition in the News Feed (this is way more than Twitter).

See, the focus here should not be the upcoming algorithm but rather how to respond to the continuous drop in engagement and reach because of the clutter created.

With the increasing number of users, if Instagram does nothing, engagement and reach, will surely continue to drop and users will start abandoning the platform. This is horrible for brands.

The only problem I see with the algorithm is brands and users spending time trying to game the system, rather than creating content that matters and their users love.

Yes, we will need to pay to play. However ignore the outrage, the Instagram algorithm change is a good thing.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lucio Ribeiro, is a co-founder and lead strategist of Online Circle Digital where he works with Fortune 500 brands in developing their digital marketing strategies and execution. He is considered a thought leader on digital marketing; authoring articles in digital innovation and strategy, speaking at seminars and judging global awards.