It seems like everyone in the world is talking about the new update to Instagram that will add an algorithm to the timeline. As a frequent user of the popular photo sharing app, I still don’t quite know where I stand on the issue. Despite my timeline remaining chronological for the time being, it has already been overrun with posts asking for people to turn on post notifications. Over the last few months I’ve made a huge effort in curating the content I would like to see in my Instagram timeline alongside the posts from friends and family. I did this so that I could open the app at any time and know there would be at least one post worth my time.

So what does the new algorithm mean for me? Well, I’m not sure just yet because I have yet to receive the update, but I’m curious to see if it works in my favor or not. So far I’ve heard tons of complaints that the algorithm will turn Instagram into the barren wasteland of Facebook as we know it today. For personal reasons I stopped using Facebook sometime last year and have no intentions on returning to the site. The new Instagram will be very interesting, to say the least. Already I’ve witnessed quite a few (i.e. most) Bloggers and YouTubers getting their panties in a bunch, and I think that’s largely down to the fact that there is a lot of money to be made out of understanding the analytics of your Instagram account and being smart about what and when you post. I find it funny that an app that was created as a way to share a photo in an instant has turned into a huge platform for businesses to execute huge social media marketing campaigns. Perhaps the new algorithm is Instagram’s attempt at evening the playing field, although it seems like it would take a whole lot more than displaying posts non-chronologically.

I’m willing to give the new algorithm a shot before urging my followers to turn on post notifications. Honestly, nothing would make me want to unfollow someone faster than if I were to start receiving notifications on my phone of every post they make. It’s like when you could get someone’s tweets sent to your phone. There’s a good reason why nobody does that anymore, folks. And anyway, apps and websites change all of the time! Tumblr is a great example of this — a few months ago they made the disastrous decision to remove replies in favor of a new messaging system, but now they’ve finally brought replies back and everyone is happy.