Instagram Secretly Made a Huge Change - And It's Not Its Logo

(INC)Earlier this week Instagram changed its logo, leading to a large amount of discussion on social media. Opinions spanned the gamut about...

(INC)Earlier this week Instagram changed its logo, leading to a large amount of discussion on social media. Opinions spanned the gamut about the change; Inc. even ran a piece about whether changing the logo was a smart idea.

But, perhaps as a result of my information security background and time spent doing magic as a teen, I wondered from the start whether the logo change might have been intended to serve as a diversion - focusing users' attention and discussion on something effectively immaterial while the firm made other changes that might be far more controversial.

It seems that the latter might have been the case.

On March 15th Instagram announced that it would eventually be changing people's feeds and no longer displaying images chronologically, but rather based on some proprietary algorithm. Instagram claimed that such a change would benefit users - the firm - now a division of Facebook -- calculates that users miss about 70% of images in their feeds, so a change that would ensure that people see the images that they are most likely to appreciate, seems, at least at first glance, to be quite positive .

There is a major downside however. Displaying pictures algorithmically has a dramatic impact on brands and influencers (who are often the heaviest users of Instagram) - under the old model, for example, someone with a million Instagram followers knew that any image that he or she posted would appear in the feed of every one of the million who was using Instagram at the time. Under the new model, that is no longer the case. And, of course, Instagram could charge for the right to "boost posts" and appear more often - making the firm money, but undermining the profits of influencers and increasing the cost to brands.

It was not a secret that Instagram had been testing its algorithm in various locales outside the USA, nor that many users expressed their upset when Instagram announced its intent to deploy the algorithm.

Yesterday I noticed that images in my own Instagram feed were out of order, and I confirmed that the same thing was happening now - immediately before writing this sentence. I wondered if Instagram used the logo change to distract from its actual deployment of the new algorithm. I contacted Gil Eyal, CEO of influencer database and tracking firm, HYPR.

"It looks like Instagram pulled the old bait and switch", says Eyal, "On March 15th, they announced a proposed change in their product that would turn their feed into an algorithmic feed, instead of the current, chronological one. The announcement sparked a massive response, with over 300,000 Instagram users signing a petition asking the company to reconsider this change. Their fears stem from a similar change that Facebook, Instagram's parent company, did a few years ago, which significantly reduced the organic reach that brands and influencers get on the platform".

"Back in March, Instagram's CEO, Kevin Systrom, promised to take it slow and not make any unannounced changes. But the version released this week, along with an announcement about a new icon, diverted the attention from the real issue. As one of our team members, Connor Gallic, noticed shortly after installing the new version of the app, Instagram is testing out the feed on select users in the US".

"There is a reason influencers and brands are concerned about this change. If it is similar to the one Facebook integrated a while back, it will significantly diminish their ability to reach their audience without paying Instagram to boost posts. This means that brands and influencers who have spent years building a following on the platform will now see a significant drop in the value of that following. From a user perspective, however, I actually think this is beneficial. If done properly, the algorithm will reduce clutter on the feed and ensure more relevant and engaging content gets pushed to the front".

Eyal offered some advice for brands and influencers: "Look at your recent posts and see which have gotten the highest levels of engagement. These posts are the ones that are likely to perform best when measured by Instagram's new algorithm. You want to make sure you identify the characteristics of these successful posts, so that Instagram recognizes your content and decides to promote it".