I have the same experience with Instagram. It used to show me interesting stuff, now it shows me interesting stuff from a few days ago. And a few days from right now, it will show me the interesting stuff that was posted right now. No amount of checking Instagram seems to make the delay go away. Every time I log in, the top of my feed is from 2 days ago. And I scroll for miles and still seeing days-old content that I didn't see days ago.

I'm using it far less as it keeps showing me stuff I don't care about from 5 or so days ago instead of linear timeline.

It annoys me because no one ever asked for non-chronological & there's no setting to change it. Instead it shows you stuff it ‘thinks’ you want to see but so far it has been way off the mark for me. And I've missed local bar promos as a result.

I'll give it credit though; it has encouraged me to unfollow a large amount of people it kept showing me repeats of.

I definitely feel less urge to engage on Instagram now than I used to as well.

Scroll until you see the first thing you saw the last time you checked the app. Do that every time you open the app and you'll never see things from before the last time you checked.

It's absurd that it's necessary, but it works 100% of the time for me since they moved to non-chronological sorting.

So THAT is how they artificially increase their DAU and use time - make the user experience only tolerable if you essentially have to use the app daily and be constantly updated.

Sure, but there's a certain amount of sense in that the fix for "I want to see everything posted by the people I follow" is "go look at everything posted by the people you follow".

Instagram is so frustrating. I want to see all the stuff in my feed but they actively make it hard to do so.

All I want is a complete chronological feed of media. No terrible sorting algo, no held back stuff to show me later, no suggestions.

I don't know why Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, etc can't have a simple toggle between chronological and the default algorithmic feed... I've seen everyone complain about this for years online and it seems like such a simple problem to solve.

Much like searching for Tweets, Twitter provides a "New" vs "Top" filter which does that same...

It has nothing to do with advertising as both views can include ads.

Same reason Netflix doesn't let you list all the movies on their site in alphabetical order - they want to create the sense that there is unlimited content. If every time you opened Instagram and there was no new content and you saw the same picture you saw last time you would just close the app. Now you never really know if there is no new content or not so you scroll down... and down...

It can’t be that simple, however, because all three show lots of old content for days even after you’ve looked at it. There must be some component of predicting the content you’re most likely to click on or guaranteeing views for promoted content.

It could also be that you only need a certain percent of new content to keep eyeballs. Thus, by only showing some new content at a time, instead of all at once (as in a chronological feed), you would increase user engagement time.

> I don't know why Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, etc can't have a simple toggle between chronological and the default algorithmic feed...

It's not that they can't have it. They have no incentive to do so.

Algorithm feeds provides the guarantee that an ad is seen by a minimum number of users, which is the entire value of facebook.

What? You can put ads in chronological feeds too.

Fair enough. So, why doesn't facebook allow chronological ads?

> I don't yet have that feeling about snapchat, though the new design is annoying.

I tried to try it out but even on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 when it came out it was unbearably slow and even not using the camera drained the battery (IIRC it is/was because Snapchat kept the camera on during the time the app was open in order to avoid the 1-2s lag of camera setup). I can't understand why and how kids and young people like it so much.

>I can't understand why and how kids and young people like it so much.

That. That right there is why they like it so much. Because you're not on it. Their parents and grandparents are on Facebook, but those parents and grandparents can't figure out how to use Snapchat or don't see why kids like it, and that is exactly why kids like it.

It's the "adults can't see why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch" or "Trix is for kids" of their generation.

I'd get that point if the users were 14 years old. But hell adults use it, movie stars and other celebrities - no matter if the app is dumb and buggy as hell... I wonder if Snapchat usage in over-16-year-olds could be a sign of a dumbing down populace.

MKBHD had a good take on Android snapchat, in passing on this video where he announced he's leaving the platform for instagram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-DfipidnOE

Basically, it's far worse than the iOS version, due to Android fragmentation and Snapchat's failure to code for the different camera of at least the high end android devices.

I have been using Instagram from 2011, with less than 100 subscriptions (mostly friends). Uninstalled it last month because of the compulsive story checks and the new messy algorithmic feed. Now I get there from iPad once a week.

Yeah. I just checked it from Flume on Macos. Not a bad experience, devoid of most of the growth hacking stuff.

Interesting you've had the same experience despite not growing your friends list. I had wondered if my own distate was simply because my list grew. Sounds like not.

I agree on the stories. They stole a march on Snapchat, but they may have destroyed what made Instagram enjoyable and stress free.

Bingo. They're going to pull the same drain and rake in money in the short term. They'll buy their next competitor and rinse/repeat.