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Instagram is launching three home feeds, and one is chronological

The platform will launch the feeds within the first half of 2022.

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Instagram is testing three home options.

Image: Instagram
Instagram will give users a few options for their home feeds, including the ability to use a chronological feed, Adam Mosseri said in a tweet on Wednesday.

Mosseri said the platform is rolling out three home feeds, a couple of which Instagram mentioned last month but are officially launching within the first half of the year. One is called Home, which is the same algorithmic feed Instagram currently offers; the second is called Favorites, which offers posts from a curated list of accounts of creators, friends and family; and the third is called Following, which provides content from the accounts that users follow in chronological order.



Reintroducing an ordered feed (Instagram dropped time-ordered feeds a few years ago) is a sign that chronological posts are something users want, not just an empty promise Instagram made to lawmakers last month. "We think it's important that you get to a chronological feed if you're interested, quickly, and see the latest that has been posted by the accounts that you follow," Mosseri said in his announcement.

Instagram and Facebook have been criticized in recent months for prioritizing harmful content, and on Instagram specifically, that issue has reportedly had a negative impact on young users' mental health. Lawmakers and Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen have called for time-ordered feeds like the one Instagram is bringing back as a way to address the issue.

Facebook also tweaked its News Feed a couple months ago so users can decide how much content they see from different accounts, pages and groups. It's not necessarily a chronological feed, but Facebook users can already manually set their feed that way.

Sarah Roach

Sarah (Sarahroach_) writes for Source Code at Protocol. She's based in Boston and can be reached at sroach@protocol.com

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