What Chronological Instagram Timeline Means For Your Business

We are not going to get into a debate about the reasons why Meta is doing making this change in Instagram, there are plenty of other op-eds about it by people far more knowledgeable on the subject. What we are planning to do here is explain what the potential impact can be for your business.

If someone who uses Instagram makes the switch to have their feed not controlled by the alogrithm but rather the time and day an image or video was posted, this could potentially allow you to get more exposure and reach.

Rather than have an impression be governed by whether or not a particular person interacts or follows with your brand, by having a regular posting schedule that works within when your followers use the app the most, you can get extra organic impressions for zero additional cost.

As with everything though there is a catch – you won’t know which users have switched their timeline, and Meta hasn’t made it completely logical or easy to find. For those that are interested though, if you tap the Instagram logo on the top left hand side of the screen, you will be able to switch between Following and Favourites mode.

There might be a small spike as companies and influencers try experimenting to see if this theory holds any water. But remember we have been here before when Instagram stories was launched and everyone was posting those “New Post” stories to try to game the algorithm into getting more exposure.

So as usual with social media, get your team to keep an eye on it, take any notes if you see any shifts in engagement or reach, and make whatever changes works best for you and your strategy.