When you are looking through social media, all the posts that you are getting shown are being carefully chosen.

It may feel like it is random, especially on a platform like Instagram where you can be shown posts from any time.

But each of these platforms uses what is called an algorithm to decide what they are going to add to your feed for you to view.

You can read more about algorithms, but how do they work in social media?

Algorithms

There are a number of factors that social media platforms will consider as part of the algorithm. Together they create a set of rules and calculations that are used to try to guess what content you would like to see most. If the platforms keep showing you content that you like, you are more likely to not only engage with that content, but also stay on their platform and use it more.

Most social media platform algorithms will look at:

How Relevant Is The Content?

The algorithm will look at what kind of content you have engaged with previously, and try to show you similar style posts.

How Much Engagement Does A Post Get?

If a lot of people engage with a post, by liking it, commenting on it, or sharing it, the social media platforms view that as a successful post. It will then show it to more users.

User Details and Preferences

Social media algorithms will consider things like your location, your age, gender, relationship status and the other type of accounts you follow, when deciding what kind of content to show you.

Recent Posts

In most cases, algorithms prefer to show you content that was posted more recently than old posts.

A Well Kept Secret

In most cases, social media platforms won’t show you exactly how their algorithms work. They will often give you hints and tips on how to try to make your posts more successful, so that you can try to get more engagement. But rarely will they tell you the calculations behind their own algorithm.

While we know the factors that they take into accounts, we don’t know which ones the platforms see as most important. Each platform will put importance on each factor differently, meaning none of their algorithms are the same.  They also have a tendency to change and update how the algorithms work.

Think about the content you are shown on the social media platforms you like to use. Does the algorithm work well for what you want to see?