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Instagram update tells users who they don’t like to make it easier to unfollow

Feature intended to let people clear up their feeds

Andrew Griffin
Friday 07 February 2020 10:33 GMT
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An Instagram employee takes a video using Instagram's new video function at Facebook's corporate headquarters during a media event in Menlo Park, California on June 20, 2013
An Instagram employee takes a video using Instagram's new video function at Facebook's corporate headquarters during a media event in Menlo Park, California on June 20, 2013 (Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)

Instagram has added a new feature to let you find out who you don't like.

The tool is intended to allow users to clean up their news feeds by unfollowing accounts they don't interact with or want to see less of.

It comes alongside another tool that lets people see who they hear from most, which is also supposed to help people curate their feeds.

The tool can be found by heading to your own profile and clicking the "following" button. From there, you'll see the normal list of everyone you follow, but also the new update.

There is an option for looking at the Instagram accounts that appear most in your feed. Those are also likely to be the ones you interact with most, given that Instagram prizes things like likes when deciding what to show, but could also be annoying accounts that post too much.

The other option shows users who they interact with least. That can include dozens of people that might be worth unfollowing if their feed or stories are becoming overwhelming.

The new feature was found in testing late last year, but has finally rolled out to everyone with a new update and announcement from Instagram.

It comes after the app also added the option to see the people you follow sorted by how recently you started doing so. That is similarly intended to allow people to better understand their feed, and get rid of anyone they followed a long time ago but no longer wish to see posts from.

All of the features are intended to allow people to have more control of their news feed and hopefully better curate what they want to see.

“Instagram is really about bringing you closer to the people and things you care about — but we know that over time, your interests and relationships can evolve and change,” a spokesperson said.

“Whether you graduate, move to a new city, or become obsessed with a new interest and find a community, we want to make it easier to manage the accounts you follow on Instagram so that they best represent your current connections and interests.”

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