For Instagram OGs, the recent announcement of a return to a chronological feed if we so choose it sounded like music to their reels. However, if you’ve not been around on everyone’s favourite photo and video sharing app since the beginning, you may well be wondering what all the fuss is about. Furthermore, following the announcement at the start of the year of the option to switch to a chronological feed if users wanted to view posts in that way, there was a lot of talk about what this would mean in practical terms, particularly for brands.

If you’re wondering just how the option to switch between feeds will work for you, here’s what brands need to know about the chronological Instagram feed:

How does the chronological Instagram feed work?

Before you get too excited about Instagram going back to its roots, you need to know that the default setting for everyone’s home feeds will still be the algorithm based feed. This means that for the most part,nothing much will change in the first instance. At the very least, until people get the feel for switching between feeds regularly. Your followers will still see you in their feeds if the algorithm deems your content relevant to them.

As an addition to this, you will also have the option to switch to either a chronological feed or a ‘favourite’ feed. This can be done by tapping on the Instagram logo in the top left hand corner.

And what does every change to the social media platform represent? Different options and different opportunities for brands.

Will the new Instagram feed options benefit my brand?

Many brands have welcomed the return of the chronological Instagram feed. And although we’ve said above that on first glance, it’ll look like not a lot has changed, there are definitely some opportunities to be had.

For starters, if people are switching to their chronological feeds regularly, then it’s likely that they’ll be seeing accounts in this feed that they haven’t seen for a long time; feeds which had previously been buried by the algorithm. This may mean that you’re suddenly re-exposed to followers who haven’t seen your content for a while: the perfect opportunity, therefore, to re-engage with these accounts.

Furthermore, if you’re chosen to feature in someone’s favourite feed, you’ll be reaching your absolute target audience: these people have chosen to have you in their feed, and so they’ll regularly be updated with your news, products and services.

Anything else that brands should know about the new Instagram feeds?

If you’re worried about yet another change to Instagram, just when you’d got your head around the thought of potentially having to dance around for Reels and baring your soul on Stories, fear not: yes it’s true that you may lose the odd follower – if you haven’t shown up in people’s feeds for a while thus far, it may be that you’re no longer relevant to them – but don’t stress yourself out over this too much; unengaged followers are not your target market.

If you embrace it – as you have every other Instagram change to date – then you may just find that the app works even more in your favour than it did previously. Content has always been king, and never more so than in this time of personalised feeds. Accounts that add value will find themselves in their followers’ favourites in no time.

Not quite ready to step back in time? Let 24 fingers help you with everything chronological Instagram feed

If you’re not quite ready to embrace the future of Instagram, which is, erm, based on the past, then get in contact with 24 fingers. We have all the fingers you need to help manage those feeds. From the algorithm through to the chronological Instagram feed, we can help your brand to make the most of the platform.