Instagram changes some aspects of the interface: the result looks like TikTok, but the app is more convenient to use.
Better results, more relevant to the request and with an eye to the visual factor: this is the news announced by Instagram that will allow its users to have a wider overview while using the search. With a style that recalls the one already used by TikTok, the social aims to revolutionize the approach to the platform and reveals some important information about the algorithms that dominate it.
The change of course announced by the official Instagram blog is part of a series of improvements that want to stimulate inspiration for users of the app marked mainly by images. This was confirmed by Instagram chief Adam Mosseri who, in the post, specified that the visual aspect will be in evidence compared to what happens now, where the search by keyword returns only textual lists of results, divided according to different criteria such as "Account", "Tags", "Audio" and "Places", as well as a category called "Main" to which the most important published content is related.
Instagram, so changes the search
The new Instagram search will have, as anticipated, many points in common with the same feature of TikTok. In fact, the structure that will soon be introduced will highlight the visual results, that is, photos and videos responsive to the keyword searched. This means that the first occurrences displayed by the user will be thumbnails of photos and videos in line with the searched term and, only afterwards, the canonical accounts and hashtags will be shown, useful to continue the exploration.
Although currently it looks fundamentally different from what it will be in the future, the search of the social has as a fundamental criterion to put in the foreground the elements of importance. There are three factors, called "signals" by Instagram, that weigh in the choice of what is shown in the top positions of the results.
One is the text entered in the "Search" box, which must find a correspondence in the usernames or biographies, in the captions of publications as well as in hashtags and locations; then there is the user activity, which favors the accounts followed, posts viewed and previous interactions. Lastly, there is the popularity of the results, with the numbers of clicks, likes, shares and follows generated.
The same goes for the user profile and its positioning: it is the same "signals" that decide the value that is assigned by the algorithms, sending it to the top section of the list or not. Obviously, if this clashes with the guidelines of the community, with content evaluated as unsuitable, he risks both being obscured in the search and being removed in toto from the platform.
Instagram, improves the management of terms
To this change, which completely revolutionizes the layout of the dedicated page, Instagram will soon integrate another detail that is certainly not marginal. Emphasized by Mosseri, the team is studying an expansion in search terms that produce useful results; the operation will start first with the English language, embracing later other languages.
Also for this integration has not been provided a specific date. We will have to wait a little longer to see the implementation of this peculiarity that will improve the user experience on the social network.