Changes
415 times Instagram's guidance changed, newest first. Each shows what was said before, and what replaced it.
2025
Audience growthJan 2025
The advice that posting more generally increases follower growth is refined to explicitly prioritize quality over quantity and avoid burnout.
Before
One big misconception I see about Instagram is that you lose followers if you post too often.“Quick myth busting video. A lot of people think that if you post too much, people will unfollow you more, and that's actually not the case. And we just looked into this recently. Now yes, it is true that sometimes when you post, people remind that they follow you and they might unfollow you because people are always curating their following list.”
After
I’ve been getting questions on how often you should post on Instagram.“I've got a lot of questions in the last couple days about how much to post on Instagram, and so I did want to make sure you know that you should prioritize quality over quantity. But in general, posting more will help.”
Posting frequencyJan 2025
The advice that posting more generally helps growth is qualified by an explicit instruction to prioritize quality over quantity.
Before
One big misconception I see about Instagram is that you lose followers if you post too often.“Quick myth busting video. A lot of people think that if you post too much, people will unfollow you more, and that's actually not the case. And we just looked into this recently. Now yes, it is true that sometimes when you post, people remind that they follow you and they might unfollow you because people are always curating their following list.”
After
I’ve been getting questions on how often you should post on Instagram.“I've got a lot of questions in the last couple days about how much to post on Instagram, and so I did want to make sure you know that you should prioritize quality over quantity. But in general, posting more will help.”
ReelsJan 2025
The maximum Reel length increased from the original 15 seconds to three minutes.
Before
Introducing Instagram Reels“Today we’re announcing Instagram Reels: a new way to create and discover short, entertaining videos on Instagram. Reels invites you to create fun videos to share with your friends or anyone on Instagram. Record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects and new creative tools.”
After
You can now upload reels up to three minutes long.“You can now upload reels up to three minutes long. We’ve historically only allowed reels up to 90 seconds given our focus on short-form video, but we’ve heard the feedback that this is just too short for those who want to share longer stories.”
ReachJan 2025
The trial-reel guidance now clarifies that engagement carries over when a reel is shared with followers and that a trial can go viral without that step.
Before
We’re introducing trial reels to depressurize the experience of sharing reels and help people understand how content might perform before sharing it widely.“We’re introducing trial reels to depressurize the experience of sharing reels and help people understand how content might perform before sharing it widely. Trial reels get shown to non-followers first and if you like how they perform, you can choose to share them with your followers.”
After
AMA: how does engagement work on trial reels?“Here's the question about trial reels and what happens to your engagement. So the way it works is when you post a trial reel, it will show up in feeds and reels tabs for people who do not follow you yet.”
Content recommendationsJan 2025Reversed
Instagram reversed its political-content restrictions, announcing personalized political recommendations without making accounts ineligible simply for predominantly posting politics.
Before
Continuing our Approach to Political Content on Instagram and Threads“follow. If political content – potentially related to things like laws, elections, or social topics – is posted by an account that is not eligible to be recommended, that account’s content can still reach their followers in Feed and Stories.”
After
Recapping some updates @zuck announced yesterday and breaking down what’s most relevant for creators.“This should mean this should mean that we make far less mistakes in terms of taking content down. Now if you do think that there's an issue with your account, please go to account status which is under profile settings.”
Content recommendationsJan 2025Reversed
Political content changed from a category Instagram avoided recommending to content it would recommend in a personalized way.
Before
Helping Creators Find New Audiences“Content that promotes the use of certain regulated products, such as tobacco or vaping products, adult products and services, or pharmaceuticals. - Sensitive or low-quality content about health or finance, such as: - Content that promotes or depicts cosmetic procedures.”
After
Recapping some updates @zuck announced yesterday and breaking down what’s most relevant for creators.“This should mean this should mean that we make far less mistakes in terms of taking content down. Now if you do think that there's an issue with your account, please go to account status which is under profile settings.”
Recommendation eligibilityJan 2025Reversed
Instagram reverses its political-content restriction, saying political recommendations will return and posting mostly politics will no longer make an account non-recommendable.
Before
Continuing our Approach to Political Content on Instagram and Threads“follow. If political content – potentially related to things like laws, elections, or social topics – is posted by an account that is not eligible to be recommended, that account’s content can still reach their followers in Feed and Stories.”
After
Recapping some updates @zuck announced yesterday and breaking down what’s most relevant for creators.“This should mean this should mean that we make far less mistakes in terms of taking content down. Now if you do think that there's an issue with your account, please go to account status which is under profile settings.”
Account StatusJan 2025Reversed
Instagram reversed its political-content guidance: predominantly posting about politics would no longer make an entire account ineligible for recommendations.
Before
Continuing our Approach to Political Content on Instagram and Threads“follow. If political content – potentially related to things like laws, elections, or social topics – is posted by an account that is not eligible to be recommended, that account’s content can still reach their followers in Feed and Stories.”
After
Recapping some updates @zuck announced yesterday and breaking down what’s most relevant for creators.“This should mean this should mean that we make far less mistakes in terms of taking content down. Now if you do think that there's an issue with your account, please go to account status which is under profile settings.”
Political contentJan 2025Reversed
Instead of avoiding recommendations of Reels focused on political issues, Instagram announces it will reintroduce political recommendations and give politics as much space as other topics.
Before
Shedding More Light on How Instagram Works“how interested you might be in what they shared. - Information about the reel. These are signals about the content within the video such as the audio track, video understanding based on pixels and whole frames, as well as popularity.”
After
Recapping some updates @zuck announced yesterday and breaking down what’s most relevant for creators.“The fifth was reintroducing political and civic recommendations to allow politics to have as much space on our platforms as any other topic. And the fifth was moving some of our content policy and content moderation teams out of California into the state of Texas.”
Political contentJan 2025Reversed
Instagram moves from restricting political recommendations unless people choose to see them to reintroducing politics with as much space as other topics.
Before
Continuing our Approach to Political Content on Instagram and Threads“follow. If political content – potentially related to things like laws, elections, or social topics – is posted by an account that is not eligible to be recommended, that account’s content can still reach their followers in Feed and Stories.”
After
Recapping some updates @zuck announced yesterday and breaking down what’s most relevant for creators.“The fifth was reintroducing political and civic recommendations to allow politics to have as much space on our platforms as any other topic. And the fifth was moving some of our content policy and content moderation teams out of California into the state of Texas.”
Political contentJan 2025Reversed
Instagram reverses its treatment of political content as something to avoid recommending by announcing the return of political recommendations on equal footing with other topics.
Before
Helping Creators Find New Audiences“Content that promotes the use of certain regulated products, such as tobacco or vaping products, adult products and services, or pharmaceuticals. - Sensitive or low-quality content about health or finance, such as: - Content that promotes or depicts cosmetic procedures.”
After
Recapping some updates @zuck announced yesterday and breaking down what’s most relevant for creators.“The fifth was reintroducing political and civic recommendations to allow politics to have as much space on our platforms as any other topic. And the fifth was moving some of our content policy and content moderation teams out of California into the state of Texas.”
2024
EngagementDec 2024
Broadcast channels now let followers reply to messages and participate in conversations, rather than only react and vote in polls.
Before
Introducing Instagram Broadcast Channels: A New Way For Creators to Deepen Connections With Followers“pinned to their Instagram profile or, as an existing follower, a one-time notification sent when a creator starts a new channel. - Tap “Join broadcast channel.” People who are not yet following the creator will be prompted to do so.”
After
Broadcast channels updates: Get closer to your fans with replies, prompts, and insights“Broadcast channels have become a popular way for creators to engage directly with their community on Instagram. Creators and their fans exchange over 1. 5 billion messages on channels every month! But up until recently, fans could only participate by liking and reacting to messages.”
Broadcast channelsDec 2024
Followers were initially unable to send messages in channels; the new replies and prompts features let them respond and participate in conversations.
Before
Introducing Instagram Broadcast Channels: A New Way For Creators to Deepen Connections With Followers“pinned to their Instagram profile or, as an existing follower, a one-time notification sent when a creator starts a new channel. - Tap “Join broadcast channel.” People who are not yet following the creator will be prompted to do so.”
After
Get Closer to Your Community With Replies, Prompts and Insights“Broadcast channels are one of the most popular ways for creators to engage directly with their community on Instagram. Creators and their followers exchange over 1. 5 billion messages on broadcast channels every month. Until recently, followers of a broadcast channel could only participate by liking and reacting to messages.”
Broadcast channelsDec 2024
Followers were initially unable to send messages in channels; the new replies and prompts features let them respond and participate in conversations.
Before
Introducing Instagram Broadcast Channels: A New Way For Creators to Deepen Connections With Followers“pinned to their Instagram profile or, as an existing follower, a one-time notification sent when a creator starts a new channel. - Tap “Join broadcast channel.” People who are not yet following the creator will be prompted to do so.”
After
Broadcast channels updates: Get closer to your fans with replies, prompts, and insights“Broadcast channels have become a popular way for creators to engage directly with their community on Instagram. Creators and their fans exchange over 1. 5 billion messages on channels every month! But up until recently, fans could only participate by liking and reacting to messages.”
RestrictNov 2024
Restrict’s stated protections expanded to prevent restricted accounts from tagging or mentioning you or remixing your content.
Before
#SaferInternetDay“Young people face a disproportionate amount of online bullying but are reluctant to report or block peers who bully them, so last year we created a new feature called Restrict. Once you Restrict an account, you won’t receive any notifications from them.”
After
Block, Mute, Restrict, Report – What’s the difference?“This feature allows you to discreetly restrict someone without alerting them. The restricted person won’t see when you’re online, and you won’t receive notifications for their comments. They also can’t tag or mention you or remix your content.”
MuteNov 2024
Mute guidance expands beyond posts and Stories to include Notes and separate controls for muting message and call notifications.
Before
Introducing Mute: A New Feature to Control Posts on your Feed“Today we’re introducing mute in feed, a new way to control what posts you see on Instagram. The new feature lets you hide posts in feed from certain accounts, without unfollowing them. With this change, you can make your feed even more personalized to what matters to you.”
After
Block, Mute, Restrict, Report – What’s the difference?“If you want to control what you see on your Stories and Feed without cutting off someone entirely, Mute is your go-to option. This allows you to hide someone’s posts, stories, or messages while still following the account.”
Content reportingNov 2024Reversed
The newer guidance says reporting is always anonymous, whereas the older guidance made an exception for intellectual property reports.
Before
Instagram Features that Support #SaferInternetDay“If you see something that shouldn’t be on Instagram, you can report it to us. Our team works 24/7 to quickly review and remove content that goes against our Community Guidelines. To report something, tap “…” on the top right corner of the post or profile, or swipe left on the comment.”
After
Block, Mute, Restrict, Report – What’s the difference?“You can report Accounts, Comments, Messages, Posts and more to Instagram. Our team works 24/7 to quickly review and remove content that goes against our Community Guidelines. Reporting on Instagram is always anonymous, so the person who posted the content will not know you reported it.”
Personalized recommendationsNov 2024
Instagram began testing a reset for Explore, Reels and Feed recommendations, after which personalization starts building again from new interactions.
Before
What Creators Need To Know About Instagram Recommendations“We look at a number of signals to personalize recommendations, such as how many and how quickly other people are liking, commenting, sharing and saving a post; a person’s interaction history with the person who posted; other posts a person has liked or commented on; etcetera.”
After
We’re testing a way for people to reset the content recommendations they see in Explore, Reels and Feed when they want a fresh start.“We’re testing a way for people to reset the content recommendations they see in Explore, Reels and Feed when they want a fresh start. Once you reset, your recommendations will start to personalize again over time, showing new content based on the content and accounts you interact with.”
ReelsNov 2024
Instagram began testing a reset option so people could restart their personalized Reels recommendations.
Before
This week we added tabs for Reels and Shop given how important video and shopping are to Instagram, and how much we’ve seen both grow, particularly this year.“because both for reels and for shopping, we try to personalize the experiences so that they are interesting to each and every person because everyone gets their own interests. So I ask that you try them out, that you give us some time because we're going to continue to work on these experiences and make them better.”
After
We’re testing a way for people to reset the content recommendations they see in Explore, Reels and Feed when they want a fresh start.“We’re testing a way for people to reset the content recommendations they see in Explore, Reels and Feed when they want a fresh start. Once you reset, your recommendations will start to personalize again over time, showing new content based on the content and accounts you interact with.”
FeedNov 2024
Instagram is testing a reset for Feed recommendations that lets personalization start fresh, adding a different control from temporarily snoozing suggested posts.
Before
Instagram Ranking Explained“How you use Instagram heavily influences the things you see and don’t see. You help improve the experience simply by interacting with the profiles and content you enjoy, but there are a few more explicit things you can do to influence what you see.”
After
We’re testing a way for people to reset the content recommendations they see in Explore, Reels and Feed when they want a fresh start.“We’re testing a way for people to reset the content recommendations they see in Explore, Reels and Feed when they want a fresh start. Once you reset, your recommendations will start to personalize again over time, showing new content based on the content and accounts you interact with.”
ExploreNov 2024
Instagram added a test option to reset recommendations and rebuild personalization from subsequent interactions, beyond hiding unwanted content or filtering words.
Before
Giving People Control Over Their Time and What They See on Instagram“We want to give people more control over the content they see on Instagram, so we’re introducing new features that allow people to tell us what content they don’t want recommended to them. First, you can now choose to hide multiple pieces of content in Explore that you aren’t interested in at one time.”
After
We’re testing a way for people to reset the content recommendations they see in Explore, Reels and Feed when they want a fresh start.“We’re testing a way for people to reset the content recommendations they see in Explore, Reels and Feed when they want a fresh start. Once you reset, your recommendations will start to personalize again over time, showing new content based on the content and accounts you interact with.”
StoriesNov 2024
Creators gained a dedicated inbox view for story replies, making them easier to find than in the general inbox.
Before
Introducing Photo and Video Replies to Stories“Starting today, you can reply to stories with a photo or video. From selfies to Boomerangs, now you can be even more fun and playful when you respond to friends. To reply with a photo or a video, tap the new camera button while you’re watching a story.”
After
Introducing improvements to DMs for creators, including new ways to filter message requests so you can easily find the messages you don’t want to miss.“Some new improvements for DMs for creators. Now when you go to the requests inbox, sometimes it can be really overwhelming, and I've heard this a lot from creators I've talked to around the world. So what we've done is added ways to filter down those requests to just see the ones that you're looking for.”
ReelsOct 2024
The warning about noticeable watermarks was narrowed: a creator’s own logo does not hurt reach, while logos from other apps can prevent recommendation.
Before
Tips for Improving Your Reach“reposts of a reel that’s already on Instagram, content with noticeable watermarks, or accounts that regularly collect and reshare others’ content on their feed. Pro tip: Use the Remix tool instead to add your own spin to a popular reel.”
After
AMA: is it OK to watermark a reel with my own logo?“Simply create asks, "If you watermark a reel with your own logo, will that affect its reach?" And the answer is no. That's actually good to go. What we try to do is not recommend reels with logos from other apps, but if it's your own logo, don't worry about it.”
Privacy settingsOct 2024
Stricter messaging defaults expanded from under-16s, or under-18s in certain countries, to all teens under 18.
Before
I talk to a lot of parents, and often hear concerns about who can message their teens.“I talk to a lot of parents, and often hear concerns about who can message their teens. That’s why today we’re announcing stricter messaging settings for teens under 16 (and under 18 in certain countries) so they won’t receive messages from anyone they don’t follow or aren’t connected to, by default.”
After
Our New Education Campaign to Help Protect Teens from Sextortion Scams“In addition to this campaign, Meta is announcing a range of new safety features designed to further protect people from sextortion and make it even harder for sextortion criminals to succeed. These features complement our recent announcement of Teen Accounts, which gives tens of millions of teens built-in protections that limit who can contact them, the content they see and how much time they’re spending online.”
CarouselsOct 2024
Adding music to photos and carousels now also makes them eligible to appear in the Reels tab, extending the earlier engagement advice.
Before
I always recommend using audio on Reels, photos and carousels.“I always recommend using audio on Reels, photos and carousels. It can help with engagement and, with Reels specifically, it means you can show up on audio pages where a lot of people go for inspiration.”
After
Carousels often get more reach than single photo posts for two main reasons.“Carousels often get more reach than single photo posts for two main reasons. Also, quick plug: using music on carousels and photos now makes them eligible to be shown in the reels tab, which can also help with reach.”
PhotosOct 2024
Adding music to photos and carousels gained a specific reach benefit: eligibility to appear in the Reels tab.
Before
Creator Tips & Tricks“If you're a photographer or you're creative and the primary way that you express yourself is through still photographs, great, please post photos. Contrary to common belief, lots of people consume lots of photos on Instagram.”
After
Carousels often get more reach than single photo posts for two main reasons.“Carousels often get more reach than single photo posts for two main reasons. Also, quick plug: using music on carousels and photos now makes them eligible to be shown in the reels tab, which can also help with reach.”
PhotosOct 2024
The advice to use audio for engagement expanded to include Reels-tab eligibility for photos and carousels with music.
Before
I always recommend using audio on Reels, photos and carousels.“I always recommend using audio on Reels, photos and carousels. It can help with engagement and, with Reels specifically, it means you can show up on audio pages where a lot of people go for inspiration.”
After
Carousels often get more reach than single photo posts for two main reasons.“Carousels often get more reach than single photo posts for two main reasons. Also, quick plug: using music on carousels and photos now makes them eligible to be shown in the reels tab, which can also help with reach.”
Teen safetyOct 2024
Instagram adds blocking or spam-folder filtering for suspicious accounts’ follow requests, extending protection beyond restrictions on who can message teens.
Before
Introducing Instagram Teen Accounts: Built-In Protections for Teens, Peace of Mind for Parents“We developed Teen Accounts with parents and teens in mind. The new Teen Account protections are designed to address parents’ biggest concerns, including who their teens are talking to online, the content they’re seeing and whether their time is being well spent.”
After
Our New Education Campaign to Help Protect Teens From Sextortion Scams“In addition to this campaign, Meta is announcing a range of new safety features designed to further protect people from sextortion and make it even harder for sextortion criminals to succeed. These features complement our recent announcement of Teen Accounts, which gives tens of millions of teens built-in protections that limit who can contact them, the content they see and how much time they’re spending online.”
Account removalOct 2024
Instagram announced new processes to identify and remove Yahoo Boys accounts more quickly, building on its earlier sextortion-network removals and automated blocking of returning scammers.
Before
Combating Financial Sextortion Scams From Nigeria“down terrorist groups and coordinated inauthentic behavior, we used our identification of this coordinated network to help us identify more accounts in Nigeria that were attempting to engage in similar sextortion scams, bringing the total to around 63,000 accounts removed.”
After
Our New Education Campaign to Help Protect Teens From Sextortion Scams“Last week, we removed over 1,620 assets – 800 Facebook Groups and 820 accounts – that were affiliated with Yahoo Boys and were attempting to organize, recruit and train new sextortion scammers. This comes after we announced in July that we’d removed around 7,200 Facebook assets that were engaging in similar behavior.”
MusicOct 2024
Adding music to photos and carousels now also makes them eligible to appear in the Reels tab, expanding their reach opportunities.
Before
I always recommend using audio on Reels, photos and carousels.“I always recommend using audio on Reels, photos and carousels. It can help with engagement and, with Reels specifically, it means you can show up on audio pages where a lot of people go for inspiration.”
After
Carousels often get more reach than single photo posts for two main reasons.“Carousels often get more reach than single photo posts for two main reasons. Also, quick plug: using music on carousels and photos now makes them eligible to be shown in the reels tab, which can also help with reach.”