Social media algorithms can be extremely helpful in curating the content you see on your favorite platforms. However, they also mean that one brief foray down a rabbit hole can impact what you see for months.
Thankfully, Instagram is rolling out a new feature that will allow you to reset the algorithm in order to start afresh.
Instagram Is Letting You Reset Your Recommendations
As announced in a post on the Meta Newsroom, Instagram is currently testing a new way to reset your recommendations. This would reset the Instagram algorithm for you, offering a fresh start on what Instagram recommends to you across Explore, Reels, and Feed.
As a reminder, social media algorithms help the platforms decide what content to show you. Based on what accounts you follow and/or engage with, the algorithm will show you more of the same, assuming that that’s what you’re interested in.
However, these are deeply flawed, as it means one evening spent exploring a single topic can impact what you get recommended for months to come. And that includes potentially harmful content such as conspiracy theories or eating disorders.
So, in order to help everyone reset their Instagram content recommendations, Instagram is testing a feature that will allow all users to do so in a few simple steps. While it’s only currently in testing, Instagram also states that it will “soon roll out globally”.
Once available, the feature will first ask you to “review who you follow and your ad topics“. After that, you can “reset suggested content,” and enjoy a fresh start on the app. Instagram will then rebuild your recommendations based on your activity after the reset.
I Wish Every Social Media Platform Would Offer This
As someone who has previously been annoyed by what content Instagram is recommending to me based on limited searches, I’m so ready for this. For me, it was looking at a few New York-based accounts prior to a vacation. But after that vacation, I was no longer interested.
However, as Instagram makes clear, this will be particularly useful for teenagers who could have been exposed to potentially harmful content and are now being bombarded with more of the same.
TikTok already offers this feature, allowing you to reset your For You Page. But other social media platforms are still lagging behind in this area, meaning that the algorithms may have completely the wrong idea about who and what you’re interested in seeing.
