If you are starting to see posts from people and accounts you don't follow woven into your Instagram feed, know that it's a deliberate decision by the company — and one that some are speculating to create more ad inventory. Most likely, you'll only start to see more content from people and accounts you don't follow.
A rep for Instagram told BuzzFeed News the new feature was designed "to connect you to new and interesting content" on the platform.
Gabe Madway of Instagram said the app will only show you accounts and posts of people you do not follow after you've seen all the posts from those you follow.
"After you've viewed all new posts in your feed, we will suggest some additional posts you might like,” he said.
Madway stated that this function will not show any ads. Users can also snooze, or hide, posts from accounts they do not want to see, but you cannot opt out of the feature altogether, he said.
Unfortunately for Instagram (for now), people seem to hate the new feature.
Dear @instagram , I do not want to see people on my timeline that I don’t follow. Change this immediately. Please and thank you.
Like, really, really hate it. "Fucking hate it," even.
I hate this ‘recommend for you’ on Instagram, I don’t wanna see people I don’t follow like I’d rather not thanks???
I fucking hate the ‘recommended for you’ thing on instagram. I don’t want to see people I don’t follow!??!
Many users are frustrated and confused.
Instagram needs to stop with the “suggestions for you” ion like none of these people 😭 hence why I don’t follow them
They're saying they don't follow these accounts for a reason.
I don’t follow them for a reason @instagram why u doing this https://t.co/YiCiiGaYVK
People seem to be demanding only one thing from the app: Chronologically ordering photos and videos on their feed once again.
are @instagram trying to get people to not use instagram because its working lol. JUST GO BACK GO CHRONOLOGICAL ORD… https://t.co/C1u5ZG177P
Hey Instagram, how about instead of showing me “posts I might like” in my feed, SHOW ME THE PICS OF THE PEOPLE I AC… https://t.co/aDyChkG8pY
Users: bring back chronological ordering of posts Instagram: algorithms! you like them? users: no, just the chronol… https://t.co/cO9MoWp2SB
The voices couldn't be louder or more massive.
WE. 👏🏽 JUST. 👏🏽 WANT. 👏🏽 THE. 👏🏽 POSTS. 👏🏽 IN. 👏🏽 CHRONOLOGICAL. 👏🏽 ORDER. 👏🏽 https://t.co/bomRlCztf4
WHY CANT YALL JUST PUT CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER BACK SO THE PPL THAT DO ACTUALLY WANNA SEE MY SHIT CAN SEE IT AND I CAN… https://t.co/dKpmVu6kRg
Some are venting their frustrations with the company as a whole. "They clearly don't care about ANYTHING consumers care about."
Why do I still have this app? They clearly don’t care about ANYTHING consumers care about https://t.co/08N4wpgcNz
BuzzFeed News has reached out to Instagram about these growing concerns.
Instagram is becoming unusable now. These changes are disgusting. https://t.co/fD03zx1moW