The Instagram Algorithm: What’s New in 2024?

Nothing in the world of social media marketing is more fiercely debated than the algorithm. We look for clues about how it works in our engagement numbers. We try new tools and content formats to make it like us. We love it when our numbers are up, we shake our fists at it when our numbers are down.

What does that general understanding look like? Well, we scoured the top algorithm articles, read a few Meta engineering blogs, and watched a lot of Adam Mosseri (head of Instagram) clips. After all that, we think there are only 4 things the average creator, brand, or business needs to know about the Instagram algorithm in 2024:

1. Reels get the most reach

Forgive the cliché, but video really is King. It’s not that video is inherently better than photos, but it’s simply more popular. Videos move, they make sound, they easily stir up emotions. For that straightforward reason, Reels are favored in the Instagram algorithm.

They’re also your best chance of expanding your reach. The reels experience is more focused on recommendations than follower content. It's one of the only places in-app where audiences regularly interact with accounts they don’t follow. Unlike the feed or stories, reels are a golden opportunity to bring curious people to your profile and convert them to followers. This is especially true after the Spring 2024 update, which increases the number of non-followers who see a reel in its early stages. More on that later.

2. Carousels are the optimal type of photo post

But photos aren’t dead! In 2022, head of Instagram Adam Mosseri admitted that Instagram had probably strayed too far from its photography roots by overindexing on video. The algorithm update that followed is meant to show users more photos in their feed — if that’s what they regularly interact with. In fact, the app is testing several new features on carousel posts, including the ability to post up to 15 images and comment on specific images within the carousel.

Photo dumps can be a particularly engaging carousel format, because they max out interaction potential and hinge on authentic content.

Learn how to make Instagram photo dumps work for your business.

3. Reshares are an important engagement signal

Most of the engagement happening on Instagram is hidden — because it’s happening in direct messages (DMs).

“There are way more photos and videos shared in DMs than there are shared in Stories.” – Adam Mosseri on the 20VC podcast

DMs are a tricky business. This is the land of “dark social” — the private in-app interactions that the apps can’t really track or report on. But a huge piece of Instagram — or Facebook, or Snapchat, or WhatsApp — is what’s happening in their messaging features. Adam Mosseri has indicated in several interviews that Instagram is watching this phenomenon closely.

4. Shorter Reels perform better

Instagram is not a long-form video platform, and it doesn’t want to be. While you can post videos up to fifteen minutes long (if you use a social media scheduler), the Instagram reels algorithm is more likely to push videos under 90 seconds. In fact, the Instagram team went on record at a conference to say that posting Reels longer than 90 seconds can actually hurt your distribution.

Two factors influence this rule:

1. Shorter videos are naturally more likely to be replayed. Replays are a significant signal to the algorithm that the content is engaging and worth pushing to more users.
2. Shorter videos mean more content is consumed in a single reel-watching session. That’s good for everyone (especially Instagram).

The takeaway here is: the shorter the better. Super short videos are considered low quality, but anything between 7 - 30 seconds is the sweet spot for replays.

Tags: Social Media, Instagram, Content Creation, Social Trends & Updates