How to Clean up Your Instagram Explore the Feed
Algorithmic presentation, how I hate you. I hate Twitter even though it’s small. I hate Facebook because I just want a simple chronological news feed. And I hate Instagram because its Browse tab can be filled with all kinds of weird shit that the service thinks I should like. There’s not much you can do to get a handle on all the naughty Explore, but you have several options.
Instagram Overview Tab Issue
Before we get started, here’s how Instagram says it selects the photos and videos that appear when you click on the app’s large magnifying glass on its bottom nav bar:
“We are constantly working to update the types of photos and videos you see in Search & Explore to better suit you. Posts are automatically selected based on things like the people you follow or posts you like. You can also see video feeds, which may include posts from different accounts, hand-picked and auto-generated based on topics we think you will enjoy. “
Easy, right? Not so much. As you may have noticed, when you thoughtlessly stared at the endless Explore content feed, sometimes things appear that you definitely don’t like:
“I follow musicians and some artists who paint with a touch of outdoor things (camping, etc.). So why in hell are there always dumb memes and videos of girls putting makeup on? ”- earthcharlie ,“ Explore the nonsense tab ”!
“My research feed is always full of candy making videos. I don’t track anything related to candy making. None of the people I follow are candy-related. “ – Rules2PlayBy , “My exploration page is filled with candy making videos”
“Why do I need all these ripped guys without a shirt?” – David Murphy, various
No, really. For a decent amount of time, my Instagram Explore feed has been full of ripped, almost naked guys. They would pose on their own. They posed with other ripped, almost naked, dude friends. It was gymnastics. And while I’m thinking of improving my fitness a bit, I mostly use Instagram to post photos of my cat. Fitness has never been, and most likely never will be, what I really care about in the service. Why bro, Instagram?
Configuring a broken Overview tab
If you’re in the Overview tab and hate what you’re looking at, there are several things you can do to change its contents. Full Disclosure: Your options are a little limited, and since the feed is algorithm driven, it may take a little time for your settings to take effect.
- Maybe stop using Instagram so much
First, consider the obvious: who do you follow on Instagram and what do you like? If you’re the type of Instagram user who just follows any account that looks remotely interesting and you double-tap the Explore feed like akeyboard champion , you can blame yourself for the messy Explore feed. Tap the head and shoulders icon in the bottom-right corner of the app, tap Subscribe and start shrinking to the accounts you really need.
Also, stop loving every photo. It’s okay to just silently acknowledge its existence to yourself instead of touching-touching-touching.
- Think about what your signed friends are interested in
If you find it difficult to reduce the number of accounts to the best of the best, here’s a trick. Click the heart icon at the bottom of the Instagram app and then click Follow. This lesser-known menu gives you an idea of what those you follow are doing on the service, including what they liked and who they chose to follow. If all of your friends love cats as hell but you’re a dog lover, that might explain why thereis alwaysa cat party in your Explore feed. (And if your preference for animals is enough to get you unsubscribed, it can also help you clean up your feed.)
- Set the correction algorithm
When you’re in the Browse tab and you see an image that doesn’t interest you at all, click on it – trust me. At the bottom of the enlarged image, right below where the comments end, you’ll see a timestamp and a brief description of why Instagram chose to show you this particular image. This will give you some insight, but not much, on how you can change your habits or subscribed accounts to avoid such images in the future.
While you’re there, click on the ellipsis icon above the upper-right corner of the image. This way you share the images you like with your friends on Facebook and Facebook Messenger (or copy the link to paste it, for example, into a text message). More importantly, you can click Less Posts like this for Instagram to fire whatever you hate.
It’s unclear how effective this button is for actually changing your feed, as some Instagram users reported mixed results after doing nothing other than clicking it for all the images they don’t like. We wouldn’t waste a weekend trying to perfect our Instagram feed, but it’s useful when you’re killing time in the Overview tab.
- Don’t forget to follow the hashtags
Everyone knows that you can follow other Instagram accounts. However, you may not be aware that you can also follow hashtags directly. So if you’re really into #video games, #coffee, and #insomnia, use the search bar at the top of Explore to find and subscribe to hashtags related to the topics you’re interested in. With any luck, this will also have an impact on the content that Explore populates.
- Don’t try to play gram
Earlier this month, Refinery29’s Madeleine Buxton shared a great story highlighting why retraining Instagram’s algorithm can be challenging. Her friend spent a lot of time on Instagram looking for something to bake. Think her Review channel is filled with images and videos of weed – this is a very different kind of baked goods. She tried to fix her food in the only way she could think of:
“… she spent weeks trying to change the algorithm, clicking only on photos and accounts that had nothing to do with the bank. It was logical and proved to be successful, but was unnecessarily time consuming and time consuming. Instead, it was work that could have been invested in baking the cake. “