Changes
415 times Instagram's guidance changed, newest first. Each shows what was said before, and what replaced it.
2024
Photo taggingOct 2024
Instagram now restricts suspected scam accounts from seeing people’s tagged photos or other accounts tagged in their photos.
Before
Introducing Instagram Photos of You“Photos are memories of the people, places and moments that mean the most to us. We have always sought to give you simple and expressive ways to bring the stories behind your photos to life. Your captions and hashtags capture the “what?””
After
Our New Education Campaign to Help Protect Teens From Sextortion Scams“misrepresent where they live to trick teens into trusting them. To help prevent this, we’re testing new safety notices in Instagram DM and Messenger to let teens know when they’re chatting with someone who may be in a different country.”
Watch timeOct 2024
The advice to improve hooks to keep viewers watching becomes more specific: capture attention in the first three seconds, use text, and set expectations.
Before
New Features on Instagram Reels: Trends, Editing and Gifts“We’re improving Reels insights to help you better understand how your content is performing. We’re adding two new metrics: total watch time and average watch time – and making it easier to see your insights while viewing your reels directly.”
After
The first three seconds of a reel are super important.“The first three seconds of a reel are super important, and we call this the hook. Now that doesn't necessarily mean you need to bait the user or have a cliffhanger, but you do need to get the user's attention because as they're scrolling through feed, you have a brief moment where you might actually get them invested in hearing what else you have to say.”
PhotosSep 2024
AI photo editing moved from an upcoming feature to tools rolling out that could add or remove objects and replace backgrounds.
Before
Lots of fun announcements today“Lots of fun announcements today We’re starting to introduce generative AI experiences across our family of apps. On Instagram, we’ve started rolling out customizable AI stickers for DMs and Stories to select English language users, and AI image editing tools are coming soon in the US.”
After
Lots of announcements today“Lots of announcements today They’re testing and rolling out over the next few weeks. Swipe to learn more and let me know what you think in the comments You can talk to Meta AI and it will talk back – get advice or hear a story and choose from multiple voices including amazing voices like Judi Dench Now Meta AI can reply to photos you share in chat and tell you more about them More fun for creatives: Meta AI can now also edit your photos, like removing or adding an object You can even ask Meta AI to replace the background of your photo to make it more fun Meta AI’s imagine feature, imagine yourself is newly available across Feed, Stories and Profile.”
Content recommendationsSep 2024
Teen Accounts made sensitive-content controls stricter by default and extended some protections to content from accounts teens follow.
Before
Sensitive Content Control“where we are recommending content to you, you're not seeing something because you followed an account, but rather because we thought you might be interested in it. We think we have even more responsibility. And so what we have is something we call our recommendation guidelines, which are different than our community guidelines, which are about what can and cannot be on Instagram at all.”
After
Introducing Instagram Teen Accounts: Built-In Protections for Teens, Peace of Mind for Parents“We recognize parents are concerned that their teens might see mature or inappropriate content online, which is why we have stricter rules around the kinds of content teens see on our apps. We remove content that breaks our rules and avoid recommending potentially sensitive content – such as sexually suggestive content or content discussing suicide or self-harm.”
Teen safetySep 2024
Teen Accounts extend the strictest default messaging restrictions to teens generally, beyond under-16s and under-18s in certain countries.
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
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.”
Teen safetySep 2024
Teen protections shift from settings teens are encouraged to opt into to automatic Teen Account safeguards, with parental approval required for under-16s to loosen them.
Before
New Protections to Give Teens More Age-Appropriate Experiences on Our Apps“To help make sure teens are regularly checking their safety and privacy settings on Instagram, and are aware of the more private settings available, we’re sending new notifications encouraging them to update their settings to a more private experience with a single tap.”
After
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.”
Teen safetySep 2024
The strict messaging defaults previously described for under-16s, or under-18s in certain countries, expand to Teen Accounts generally.
Before
New Tools to Help Protect Against Sextortion and Intimate Image Abuse“who are already chatting to potential scam or sextortion accounts, we show Safety Notices encouraging them to report any threats to share their private images, and reminding them that they can say no to anything that makes them feel uncomfortable.”
After
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.”
Private accountsSep 2024
Private defaults expanded to existing users under 16 and new users under 18, with parental permission required for under-16s to make their settings less strict.
Before
As a dad to three, I know it’s important to create an Instagram experience for young people that’s safe and private but also fun.“As a dad to three, I know it’s important to create an Instagram experience for young people that’s safe and private but also fun. That’s why we’re sharing some updates: - Now everyone under 16 will be defaulted to a private account when they join Instagram - We’re making it harder for adults to contact teens who don’t want to hear from them - We’re limiting ways advertisers can reach young people on Instagram and Facebook We’ll keep listening to feedback from teens, parents, lawmakers and experts – and working to keep Instagram safe.”
After
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.”
Sensitive contentSep 2024
The guidance that recommendation-ineligible content could still reach followers gained a teen-specific exception: some sensitive content is hidden from teens even when they follow the account sharing it.
Before
What Creators Need To Know About Instagram Recommendations“1. Follow our Recommendation Guidelines: Because recommended content is shown to people who don’t already follow you, we have a higher standard for what we recommend than what we allow your followers to see. This is to reduce the likelihood that we recommend something potentially offensive or inappropriate to a broader audience who hasn’t explicitly indicated they want to see it.”
After
Introducing Instagram Teen Accounts: Built-In Protections for Teens, Peace of Mind for Parents“We recognize parents are concerned that their teens might see mature or inappropriate content online, which is why we have stricter rules around the kinds of content teens see on our apps. We remove content that breaks our rules and avoid recommending potentially sensitive content – such as sexually suggestive content or content discussing suicide or self-harm.”
Parental supervisionSep 2024
Teen Accounts made parental permission mandatory for under-16s to weaken protections and extended parental approval controls to supervised teens aged 16 and older.
Before
Introducing Stricter Message Settings for Teens on Instagram and Facebook“We first launched parental supervision on Instagram in March 2022 and since then have continued to add new features to help involve parents more in their teens’ online experiences. These include the ability for parents to set time limits and schedule breaks, to understand when their teen blocks or shares they’ve reported someone, and to be notified when their teen changes their settings.”
After
Introducing Instagram Teen Accounts: Built-In Protections for Teens, Peace of Mind for Parents“— Yvonne Johnson, President, National PTA Teens under 16 will need their parent’s permission to use less protective settings. To get permission, teens will need to set up parental supervision on Instagram. If parents want more oversight over their older teen’s (16+) experiences, they simply have to turn on parental supervision.”
StickersAug 2024
Sticker placement expanded beyond Stories and Reels to photos and carousels.
Before
New Stickers in Instagram Stories“With the Cutouts sticker, you can transform even your most casual, everyday moments into something unique to share with your friends. You can turn part of any video or photo in your camera roll into a custom sticker that you can add to your story or reel.”
After
New Creative Tools“New creator tools this week. Our job is to give creators the flexibility to tell their stories online, and so today we got a couple new features to announce. One is improved text tools, so new fonts, animations, and effects to help you be more expressive on Instagram, and the second is we're finally bringing not only text but also stickers to photos and carousels.”
Instagram InsightsAug 2024
Views expand from a video-specific count to a consistently calculated metric across photos, carousels, stories and reels.
Before
Introducing Video View Counts“Update on 8/7/24: This post is no longer up to date. Please refer to our Help Center for the most current information on Instagram Insights. Over the next few weeks, you’ll start to see how many times people have watched a video on Instagram.”
After
We’re making an update within insights to make “Views” the primary metric for Reels, Stories, photos and carousels.“I wanted to give you a quick heads up about a change coming to Insights on Instagram. Now for a long time now you've been able to see how many plays a reel gets, and we're going to evolve that forward and make it consistent across all types of content.”
Instagram InsightsAug 2024
Reels Plays, previously updated to include replays, is renamed Views as Instagram standardizes the metric across content formats.
Before
New Ways to Create Content on Instagram“We’re making improvements to help you better understand how your reels content is performing. We introduced a new Reels metric on Facebook and Instagram called Replays and we updated the definition of Reels Plays to also include Replays in addition to Initial Plays.”
After
We’re making an update within insights to make “Views” the primary metric for Reels, Stories, photos and carousels.“I wanted to give you a quick heads up about a change coming to Insights on Instagram. Now for a long time now you've been able to see how many plays a reel gets, and we're going to evolve that forward and make it consistent across all types of content.”
SendsAug 2024
Advice on evaluating performance broadened from sends per reach to also emphasize views and reach.
Before
Send this to a fellow creator.“People ask a lot about the algorithms, yeah. But one of the most important things to look at if you're trying to evaluate how your videos or anything is doing on Instagram, is definitely the sends.”
After
We’re making an update within insights to make “Views” the primary metric for Reels, Stories, photos and carousels.“I wanted to give you a quick heads up about a change coming to Insights on Instagram. Now for a long time now you've been able to see how many plays a reel gets, and we're going to evolve that forward and make it consistent across all types of content.”
Video viewsAug 2024
Instagram extended Views beyond videos, making it the primary Insights metric for Reels, Stories, photos and carousels.
Before
Introducing Video View Counts“Update on 8/7/24: This post is no longer up to date. Please refer to our Help Center for the most current information on Instagram Insights. Over the next few weeks, you’ll start to see how many times people have watched a video on Instagram.”
After
We’re making an update within insights to make “Views” the primary metric for Reels, Stories, photos and carousels.“We’re making an update within insights to make “Views” the primary metric for Reels, Stories, photos and carousels. Historically we’ve shown different metrics for Reels vs other posts, but we want to evolve this so it’s easier to understand how your content is doing regardless of the format.”
Instagram LiveJul 2024
Instead of inviting anyone currently watching, the newer instructions require co-hosts to follow each other and describe inviting them by username.
Before
Go Live on Instagram with a Friend“Starting today, we’re introducing a fun way to go live with a friend. Now, you can hang out and go live together, whether you’re just doing homework or catching up on your day. Live video helps you share in an authentic way, but sometimes it can be intimidating when you’re on your own.”
After
All about Instagram Live“Setting up a Live broadcast is simple and straightforward. - Open the Instagram app and tap the plus icon in the bottom center of your home screen - Swipe to the “Live” mode at the bottom of the screen - Customize your settings, such as the title of your live video and audience - Tap the “Start Live Video button to begin your live broadcast.””
Instagram LiveJul 2024
The newer guidance adds a mutual-follow requirement for the up to three co-hosts allowed in a Live broadcast.
Before
Doubling Up on Instagram Live With Live Rooms“Today, we’re introducing Live Rooms — giving you the ability to go Live on Instagram with up to three people. Previously, you could go live with only one other person in a stream, but now you can “double-up” on your live broadcast.”
After
All about Instagram Live“Setting up a Live broadcast is simple and straightforward. - Open the Instagram app and tap the plus icon in the bottom center of your home screen - Swipe to the “Live” mode at the bottom of the screen - Customize your settings, such as the title of your live video and audience - Tap the “Start Live Video button to begin your live broadcast.””
Close FriendsJul 2024
Close Friends audience selection extended to Live broadcasts, beyond Stories and feed content.
Before
Hidden Gems“Instagram is where you can connect with your friends over the things that you care about. So this week I wanted to do a quick hidden gems video highlighting some of my favorite features that we've launched over the years on Instagram to help you connect with your friends.”
After
All about Instagram Live“Instagram Live enables you to share what you’re up to right in the moment. You can express your off-the-cuff thoughts in real time – making videos feel authentic and relatable. You can choose to go Live to all your followers, or your Close Friends list to share your thoughts or what you’re doing in real time with just your closest friends.”
Close FriendsJul 2024
Notes expanded from the inbox to posts and reels, with Close Friends still available as an audience.
Before
In case you noticed these at the top of your DMs but aren't sure what they are about...“In case you noticed these at the top of your DMs but aren't sure what they are about... notes have quickly become a popular way for people to share thoughts or status updates with their Close Friends or people who follow them back.”
After
New Feature You can now add Notes to posts and reels to connect with friends over content you're both seeing.“New Feature You can now add Notes to posts and reels to connect with friends over content you're both seeing. To leave a note on a post or reel, tap the paper plane icon, tap 'Add note' and then select either followers you follow back or Close Friends.”
Instagram InsightsJun 2024
General advice to track reach over time becomes more specific: assess posts over one to three weeks rather than just their first two days.
Before
What Creators Need To Know About Instagram Recommendations“Fluctuations in reach are common, but if you’re using a Business or Creator Account you can check your Instagram Insights to monitor trends and content performance. Watch out for patterns and keep tabs on which pieces of content are getting more reach to help inform your content strategy.”
After
Keep an eye on your insights for a few days after you post, not just for the first few hours.“Some advice: when you're evaluating how something you post on Instagram does, make sure you keep track of how it's doing not only over the first two days but over the first week or two. Now it's true most things you post are going to get most of their reach in let's call it two days, but some things are more evergreen in nature.”
EngagementJun 2024
The newer advice adds a timing recommendation: keep engaging in comments for up to a week after posting to help engagement over time.
Before
New Features“allows you to take a comment and create a reel from that comment. So if you're a creator, I highly encourage you to engage with your followers as much as you can. And this is a really fun way to do just that.”
After
Keep an eye on your insights for a few days after you post, not just for the first few hours.“Some advice: when you're evaluating how something you post on Instagram does, make sure you keep track of how it's doing not only over the first two days but over the first week or two. Now it's true most things you post are going to get most of their reach in let's call it two days, but some things are more evergreen in nature.”
Collab postsJun 2024
The collaborator limit for Reels increased from three invited accounts to five.
Before
New Ways to Create With Music and Collaborate With Friends on Instagram“We’re opening up more possibilities with Collabs: now, you can invite up to three friends to co-author a feed post, carousel or reel. Once they accept, the content will reach each collaborator’s audience and appear on each account’s profile grid.”
After
Instagram Reels Tips and Tricks“When you make a reel with others, it’s nice to give them credit, plus it expands how many people see your post. That’s why Reels allows you to invite multiple collaborators. If your friends accept your collaboration invite, the number of people who can see your content will increase.”
Collab postsJun 2024
Reels can now have five invited collaborators rather than three.
Before
Collabs + Music Updates“This week, two quick updates on finally features. A reminder: finally features are features that we should have launched a long time ago, and we are finally now getting to. Also, here back in the United States in the green room.”
After
Instagram Reels Tips and Tricks“When you make a reel with others, it’s nice to give them credit, plus it expands how many people see your post. That’s why Reels allows you to invite multiple collaborators. If your friends accept your collaboration invite, the number of people who can see your content will increase.”
Audience controlsJun 2024
Close Friends expanded to include reels, letting both public and private accounts restrict a reel’s audience to their curated list.
Before
This week on Instagram I’m adding @lilly to my close friends list!“Hi, to work with Instagram means you're gonna get a lot of feedback about Instagram questions concerns people asking you to be verified, but definitely lots of questions. And so I thought I would start a series called Hidden Gems where we'd highlight cool features on Instagram.”
After
Instagram Reels Tips and Tricks“Sometimes, you might want to share a reel with a tight-knit group of friends or specific people without it being seen by everyone. Now, you can control who sees your reels, by sharing a reel to Close Friends, giving you even more ownership over what you share.”
Close FriendsJun 2024
Close Friends became an audience option for Notes as well as Stories.
Before
Curate Instagram Stories for Close Friends Only“Starting today, you can make a close friends list on Stories and share with just the people you’ve added. Instagram Stories has become the place to express yourself and share everyday moments, but our community has grown and sometimes what you want to share isn’t for everyone.”
After
In case you noticed these at the top of your DMs but aren't sure what they are about...“In case you noticed these at the top of your DMs but aren't sure what they are about... notes have quickly become a popular way for people to share thoughts or status updates with their Close Friends or people who follow them back.”
CommentsJun 2024
Mosseri clarified that waiting applies mainly when comments get heated, suggested about an hour, and emphasized that engaging is optional.
Before
Quick advicewait a bit before getting into your comments, especially if you tend to get some heat“Quick advicewait a bit before getting into your comments, especially if you tend to get some heat”
After
AMA: You are telling us to wait before engaging, but you have always said to engage when you post so it pushes out your content, which is it?“So this question is because I often say it's important to engage in your comments and here it's I actually posted a video recently saying if you get a lot of heat in your comments you might want to wait an hour or so before getting into your comments so we have more time to rank the most aggressive usually early comments down lower in your comments.”
LimitsMay 2024
Limits expanded to let people restrict interactions to Close Friends, with coverage including tags and mentions as well as comments and DMs.
Before
Protecting Footballers and Fans on Our Apps During the FIFA World Cup“Words last year, more than one in five people with more than 10,000 followers have turned it on. We’re also testing turning it on by default for people with creator accounts, which includes many footballers playing in the World Cup.”
After
Announcing a new way for teens to protect themselves on Instagram.“Announcing a new way for teens to protect themselves on Instagram. Our existing Limits tool helps people limit interactions - comments, DMs, tags, mentions - to their core community, like long-time followers or only people they follow back.”
StickersMay 2024
Custom photo and video stickers were described as usable in Reels as well as Stories, with saved cutouts that others can reuse.
Before
Instagram Drops Four New Stickers in Stories“Today, Instagram is launching new stickers on Stories that will give you fresh ways to connect with friends over the things you care about most. Whether you want to share your favorite song of the day (and find out your friends’ top tunes too) or create your own custom stickers from your photos or videos, we hope these new tools inspire you to get creative in Stories.”
After
New Stickers in Instagram Stories“With the Cutouts sticker, you can transform even your most casual, everyday moments into something unique to share with your friends. You can turn part of any video or photo in your camera roll into a custom sticker that you can add to your story or reel.”
ReelsMay 2024
Instagram announced a ranking change to give smaller creators more recommendation opportunities rather than letting the largest creators receive too much reach.
Before
Instagram Ranking Explained“a sense of 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 or visuals in the video, as well as popularity.”
After
Smaller creators historically haven’t gotten their fair share of reach on Instagram, and we want to change that.“Historically, if I'm honest, I don't think Instagram has been good enough by small creators out there. Now we've got tens of millions of small creators, which is amazing, but in general, I think too much reach goes to the largest creators and not enough goes to little guys.”
Content recommendationsApr 2024
Instagram strengthened its advice to post original content by announcing reduced recommendations for aggregator accounts, while preserving their ability to reach followers.
Before
What Creators Need To Know About Instagram Recommendations“1. Post original content: This includes content you filmed yourself or content that hasn’t been posted on Instagram before. Avoid reuploading reels that are already on Instagram or posting unoriginal or aggregated content. If you see a reel you think your followers would love, you can share it to your Story by using the share button.”
After
Announcing some changes to further reward original content on Instagram:“making a spin on the content or making it their own in some way, shape or form. And what we're going to start doing is trying to avoid recommending content from aggregators across Instagram. So aggregators will still be able to reach their followers, but we're going to try to focus recommendations much less on aggregators and much more on original content creators.”