Social media services normally encourage users to follow new accounts, but Instagram has now started encouraging people to unfollow each other. This is just one of the ways Instagram is now letting users sort and rank the people they follow.
One of the core selling points that almost every social media service touts is bringing people together. Whether it’s through text or video chat, sharing images, groups, games, recommendations, or any other common ground, the emphasis has always been on increasing engagement between users. However, Facebook-owned Instagram has seemingly now found a way to increase engagement by encouraging users to only follow the accounts they already engage with - and unfollowing those they don’t.
Instagram announced the new feature today via Twitter. Essentially, the photo and video-sharing social network has added new ways a user can sort their following list. One of the options is by time and this then allows the user to see who their first follow was. Another option is by “least interacted with” and once sorted, the list ranks Instagram accounts by how little the user has engaged with them. There’s also a quick-access option to unfollow by clicking on the “following” link. To test the feature out, open the Instagram app, tap on your profile, and then on “following.” A new “Categories” section should be visible under the search bar, along with the option to sort by least interaction.
Should Social Media Services Encourage Unfollowing?
It is clear that Instagram is positioning this as a tool that lets users slim down their following list and remove accounts that they have shown less interest in. However, it remains to be seen if that’s the type of approach services like Instagram should adopt? Social media is already awash with differing opinions and factions, and actively encouraging users to unfollow people they don’t interact with as much might make the situation worse. Surely, Instagram should be encouraging users to engage more with the people they don’t interact with, not less?
This also raises the question of whether Instagram’s new feature will result in other social media services following suit? As this is designed to increase engagement for Instagram (users only seeing posts from accounts they already engage with), it makes sense that other services in need of an engagement boost will introduce similar features. Finding even more ways to highlight accounts that users should unfollow seems like a surefire way to create even more of an environment where people are only exposed to accounts that resonate with their own thoughts and opinions. Social media should probably worry less about bringing people who are already together even closer, and more about bridging the divides.
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Source: Instagram/Twitter
