Social media is where people gather, communicate and interact. But sometimes, bigger ones swallow smaller ones.
This can happen because more popular accounts are more visible, have more followers, and see more interactions. On Instagram, this translates well for Meta's business. But for the majority of users, most of whom aren't that famous, having an algorithm that only prioritize more established account is not helping.
To create a more even playing field, especially towards those who create original and unique content, Instagram is changing how its algorithm works.
To be precise, the popular social media is tweaking its algorithm,
In particular, the algorithm works by putting less rank to content posted by aggregators.
For a long time, content aggregators have been able to reach audiences by simply resharing content from others, according to an Instagram post announcing the changes. Sometimes the content is attributed to the creator, and sometimes it's not.
But one thing for sure, aggregators rarely offer a fresh content, commentary, or new take on content.
With the idea of boosting original content and make them stand out better, Instagram starts deranking aggregators and make their post get a lot of less reach.
To do this, Instagram tweaks its algorithm, so that when it finds two pieces of identical content, will automatically find the earliest one uploaded to the platform.
This attempt is to find the original poster.
After that, the algorithm will rank the older post a lot higher, allowing it to reach a wider audience instead of the aggregator's version.
According to Instagram in a website post, the method "directly replace the reposted content in recommendations."
While Instagram admits that it may not always be able to find that original poster, like when the first-ever post was posted on another platform, but Instagram wishes that original creators will see a benefit.
As for the aggregators, the algorithm will place a label on the aggregator's version, which links the copy to the original.
And to at least 'punish' the aggregators, Instagram said that they can be removed from recommendations if they repeatedly share unoriginal content.
"I recommend looking for ways to make content your own so you can continue to be recommended to people who don't follow you," said Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram.
With the tweak, big following no longer means bigger reach.
The change is for a good cause.
But of course, a large concern for creators is how Instagram implements this policy. After all, Instagram extensively use AI to help its algorithm, and that putting AI in charge of finding aggregator accounts can translate to unforeseeable issues.
Questions regarding how likely normal creators can have their accounts falsely flagged and blocked, for example.