Changes
415 times Instagram's guidance changed, newest first. Each shows what was said before, and what replaced it.
2023
Instagram SubscriptionsNov 2023
Instagram reported that its international rollout had reached creators in an additional 35 countries.
Before
Expanding Subscriptions“Expanding Subscriptions Subscriptions give creators a way to make money while enabling them to get closer to their most engaged followers by offering exclusive content and experiences. We’re rolling out subscriptions worldwide in the coming months.”
After
Giving Creators More Ways to Earn Money on Facebook and Instagram“For creators who have already built a strong community, Instagram Subscriptions can help them earn recurring, predictable income by offering exclusive content and experiences for subscribers. Since expanding access earlier this year to more creators, there are now more than 1M active subscriptions to creators through Instagram subscriptions.”
Instagram SubscriptionsNov 2023
Subscriptions expanded internationally beyond the previously announced tests, launching for creators in an additional 35 countries.
Before
Creator Week Announcements“Happy Creator Week. Today we're actually announcing a bunch of new ways for creators to make a living on Instagram and on Facebook because we know for so many creators out there, it's not just a hobby, it's a way to make a living.”
After
Giving Creators More Ways to Earn Money on Facebook and Instagram“For creators who have already built a strong community, Instagram Subscriptions can help them earn recurring, predictable income by offering exclusive content and experiences for subscribers. Since expanding access earlier this year to more creators, there are now more than 1M active subscriptions to creators through Instagram subscriptions.”
CarouselsAug 2023
Music for photo carousels moved from testing to being available to everyone.
Before
Hidden Gems - Music in Feed“Hidden Gems - Music in Feed This feature allows you to bring your content to life by adding a soundtrack to your photo post on Feed. We’re testing this feature with carousel posts now - more to come soon.”
After
New Ways to Create With Music and Collaborate With Friends on Instagram“Today, we’re excited to introduce new, fun ways to share with friends and interact with creators through music, photos and reels on Instagram. Whether you’re sharing a collection of summer memories with friends or moments from your camera roll, you can now add music to your photo carousels.”
Private accountsAug 2023
Private-account content gained a public-sharing exception: posts made in collaboration with a public account would be public.
Before
Privacy Matters: Cross-App Communication for Instagram and Messenger“With this update, you can now search for accounts across Instagram and Messenger. Just as before, search results will show an account’s username or name and basic profile information for all accounts, both public and private.”
After
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.”
Collab postsAug 2023
Collabs expanded from one invited collaborator to up to three on a feed post, carousel or reel.
Before
New Features“Hello, this week I want to talk about some cool new features that are coming to Instagram. On Monday we kicked it off with collabs, which I'm personally really excited about. We've seen creators on Instagram collaborate more and more over the last few years.”
After
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.”
Collab postsAug 2023
The limit increased from one other account to three other accounts.
Before
New Features“Hello, this week I want to talk about some cool new features that are coming to Instagram. On Monday we kicked it off with collabs, which I'm personally really excited about. We've seen creators on Instagram collaborate more and more over the last few years.”
After
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.”
MusicAug 2023
Music in carousel posts moved from testing to an announced feature.
Before
Hidden Gems - Music in Feed“Hidden Gems - Music in Feed This feature allows you to bring your content to life by adding a soundtrack to your photo post on Feed. We’re testing this feature with carousel posts now - more to come soon.”
After
Collabs + Music Updates“Collabs + Music Updates A fun, few updates this week: - Multiple Collaborators - Music in Carousels What other finally features should we be thinking about?”
Instagram SubscriptionsJul 2023
Subscriber benefits expanded to include automatically saved subscriber-only Story Highlights and subscriber-only broadcast and social channels.
Before
New Ways for Creators to Connect With Subscribers on Instagram“As part of our work to help creators make a living on Instagram, we began testing Subscriptions earlier this year as a way for you to establish a closer connection with your community while earning predictable, monthly income.”
After
Bringing Subscriptions to More Creators on Instagram“With Instagram subscriptions, you can develop deeper connections with your most engaged followers and grow your recurring monthly income by giving subscribers access to exclusive content and benefits, all within the same platform where you interact with them already.”
Instagram SubscriptionsJul 2023
Subscriber-only Stories gained automatic saving to subscriber-only Highlights, allowing subscribers to revisit them.
Before
New Ways for Creators to Connect With Subscribers on Instagram“While exclusive stories and live allow you to connect with subscribers in the moment, we know that content that lives on your profile is an important way to attract new subscribers and retain your community. We’re introducing exclusive content as posts or reels, so your subscribers can engage in the comments and come back to enjoy the content you’ve created for them.”
After
Bringing Subscriptions to More Creators on Instagram“With Instagram subscriptions, you can develop deeper connections with your most engaged followers and grow your recurring monthly income by giving subscribers access to exclusive content and benefits, all within the same platform where you interact with them already.”
Instagram SubscriptionsJul 2023
The announced expansion moved beyond the US and three test countries to a worldwide rollout over the coming months.
Before
Creator Week Announcements“Happy Creator Week. Today we're actually announcing a bunch of new ways for creators to make a living on Instagram and on Facebook because we know for so many creators out there, it's not just a hobby, it's a way to make a living.”
After
Expanding Subscriptions“Expanding Subscriptions Subscriptions give creators a way to make money while enabling them to get closer to their most engaged followers by offering exclusive content and experiences. We’re rolling out subscriptions worldwide in the coming months.”
Instagram SubscriptionsJul 2023
The subscriber benefits expanded to include exclusive posts and Reels, automatically saved subscriber Story highlights, and subscriber-only channels.
Before
Subscriptions“Subscriptions We want Instagram to be the best place for creators to make a living doing what they love. Subscriptions allow creators to monetize and become closer to their most engaged followers, by offering exclusive content and experiences: - Subscriber Lives - Subscriber Stories - Subscriber Badges We hope to add more creators to this test in the coming months.”
After
Bringing Subscriptions to More Creators on Instagram“With Instagram subscriptions, you can develop deeper connections with your most engaged followers and grow your recurring monthly income by giving subscribers access to exclusive content and benefits, all within the same platform where you interact with them already.”
Time spentJun 2023
The parental time controls expanded from viewing usage and setting time limits to also blocking periods of use.
Before
New Supervision Tools“Today we're announcing the Family Center, which is a place where parents can go to access guardian controls for their teens. At the start, they're going to be able to see how much time their teens spend on Instagram, set limits on that time, and have access to information about what that teen may have reported.”
After
New Supervision Tools“If you are a parent of a teen, you know what's best for your kid. And we believe that Instagram can be an important place for teens to build relationships and explore their interests. But we also know how important it is we do all we can to keep teens safe on our platform.”
Parental supervisionJun 2023
Family Center expands beyond Instagram supervision to let parents manage supervised accounts across multiple Meta apps in one place.
Before
New Supervision Tools“New Supervision Tools Today, we’re introducing new supervision tools on Instagram and the launch of our Family Center – a new, central place for parents/guardians to be more involved in their teens’ online experience. Let me know what additional features you’d like to see”
After
Giving Teens and Parents More Ways to Manage Their Time on Our Apps“Update on May 14, 2024 on 9:05AM PT: Starting today, we’re making it simpler for parents to see and manage all the teen accounts they supervise across different apps – Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Meta Quest – in one place via Family Center, instead of having to go into each individual app.”
Parental supervisionJun 2023
Parents could now see how many friends their teen had in common with accounts they followed or were followed by, rather than just seeing those accounts.
Before
Introducing Family Center and Parental Supervision Tools on Instagram and in VR“Supervision tools on Instagram are available in the US today, with plans to roll out globally in the coming months. Our first set of parental supervision tools on Instagram will allow parents and guardians to: - View how much time their teens spend on Instagram and set time limits.”
After
Giving Teens and Parents More Ways to Manage Their Time on Our Apps“We’ve added additional tools to Parental Supervision on Instagram to give parents more visibility into their teens’ experiences on the app and to prompt teens to have conversations with their parents with new notifications. These updates include: - A new notice to teens after they’ve blocked someone.”
ReachMay 2023
Account Status expanded beyond content recommendation eligibility to show eligibility for Search and suggested accounts, with an option to appeal.
Before
Account Status Update“Account Status Update We’re expanding Account Status so professional accounts can understand if their content may be eligible to be recommended to non-followers, and what they can do about it. Here’s how to get to it: Profile -> Menu -> Settings -> Account -> Account Status Check out the link in my bio for more info”
After
Instagram Ranking Explained“to achieve better reach, we don’t suppress content to encourage people to buy ads. It’s a better business to make Instagram more engaging overall by growing reach for those who create the most engaging content, and sell ads to others.”
ExploreMay 2023
Instagram qualified its earlier statement that Explore shows accounts you do not follow, saying instead that most Explore content comes from those accounts.
Before
Shedding More Light on How Instagram Works“gives us a sense of how interested you might be in what they shared. - Your activity. These are signals like what posts you’ve liked, saved or commented on and how you’ve interacted with posts in Explore in the past.”
After
Instagram Ranking Explained“saved, shared or commented on and how you’ve interacted with posts in Explore in the past. If you interact with a specific type of post, we try to show you more content similar to the original post you interacted with.”
Content moderationMay 2023
Account Status expands beyond removed-content violations to let people appeal ineligibility for recommendations, Search, and suggested accounts.
Before
New Transparency Tools“they can understand exactly why they might not be having the experience they expect on Instagram. We're also launching something we're calling a count status. So this is taking some data you already have access to, specifically any content violations you have, um, so any content, any photos or videos that you've posted have been taken down, and elevating it so that you can get to it really easily and find out exactly how many violations you have and what the reasons were.”
After
Instagram Ranking Explained“to achieve better reach, we don’t suppress content to encourage people to buy ads. It’s a better business to make Instagram more engaging overall by growing reach for those who create the most engaging content, and sell ads to others.”
Content recommendationsMay 2023
Instagram expanded beyond Explore’s “See Fewer Posts Like This” control to guidance on “Not Interested” for recommended posts and a test of “Interested” to request more similar content.
Before
Introducing Video Channels in Instagram Explore“Today, we’ve started rolling out a new look for Explore featuring video channels. As people share more videos than ever before, we’re making it easier to discover the ones you’ll love. To begin, you’ll find a personalized channel called “Videos You Might Like” that collects videos from across Instagram’s global community into a seamless viewing experience.”
After
Instagram Ranking Explained“won’t be notified when you unfollow them. - Respond to surveys from Instagram. We send surveys to people asking “is this post worth your time?” and use learnings from these surveys to help improve our recommendations overall.”
Recommendation eligibilityMay 2023
Account Status expands to show eligibility for Search and suggested accounts, with an option to appeal.
Before
Helping You Understand What’s Going On with Your Account“Update on Dec 7, 2022: We’re expanding Account Status to help people with professional accounts understand if their account’s content is eligible to be recommended to non-followers, and what they can do if it’s not. With this update, you can: - Check if your account’s content can be recommended: See if your content may be eligible to be recommended to non-followers in places like Explore, Reels and Feed Recommendations.”
After
Instagram Ranking Explained“to achieve better reach, we don’t suppress content to encourage people to buy ads. It’s a better business to make Instagram more engaging overall by growing reach for those who create the most engaging content, and sell ads to others.”
Account StatusMay 2023
Search and suggested-account eligibility checks, previously described as planned additions, became available in Account Status with an option to appeal.
Before
What Creators Need To Know About Instagram Recommendations“We’re introducing the ability for professional accounts to check if their account’s content is ineligible to be recommended to non-followers in Account Status. With this update you can: - Check if your account’s content can be recommended: See if your content may be eligible for recommendation to non-followers in places like Explore, Reels and Feed Recommendations.”
After
Instagram Ranking Explained“to achieve better reach, we don’t suppress content to encourage people to buy ads. It’s a better business to make Instagram more engaging overall by growing reach for those who create the most engaging content, and sell ads to others.”
FeedMay 2023
Beyond choosing whether to keep scrolling into recommendations, users can now snooze all suggested Feed posts for 30 days.
Before
Testing Recommended Posts in the Instagram Feed“Today, we’re testing recommended posts in Feed, a new way to see content you may like on Instagram. The recommendations are based on the people you follow and photos and videos you like. You’ll see recommended posts at the end of your Feed, once you’ve seen everything new from people you follow.”
After
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.”
Instagram InsightsApr 2023
Reels performance tracking expands to include notifications showing new followers gained from reels.
Before
Reels Insights“Reels Insights Live Insights New Reach Insights Today, we’re rolling out new Insights features to help creators and businesses better understand trends in their performance. We’ll continue to add to our Insights product over time.”
After
New Features on Instagram Reels: Trends, Editing and Gifts“help me bridge the gap between me as a creator and my audience. I may think a video is amazing, but seeing watch time will allow me to better understand where my viewers are engaged.” –@sckachi, comedy creator in LA “Sometimes I’ll reshoot a video based on video insights.”
Instagram InsightsApr 2023
Reels Insights adds average watch time and total watch time.
Before
Reels Insights“Reels Insights Live Insights New Reach Insights Today, we’re rolling out new Insights features to help creators and businesses better understand trends in their performance. We’ll continue to add to our Insights product over time.”
After
Reels Updates“Instagram, you'll be able to see the average watch time on that reel and the total watch time on that reel. And because we know that a lot of creators are trying to make a living doing what they do, we're also expanding our digital gifts program, which is currently just in the US, to Australia and Canada and Mexico, France, New Zealand and the UK.”
Account integrityMar 2023
Meta Verified initially included increased visibility, but Instagram removed increased reach from the subscription as it expanded the test to the US.
Before
Meta Verified“Meta Verified Meta Verified is a new subscription bundle that includes account verification with impersonation protections and access to increased visibility and support. We want to make it easier for people, especially creators, to establish a presence so they can focus on building their communities on Instagram or Facebook.”
After
Meta Verified Updates“We're expanding the Meta Verified test to the US over the next couple weeks. As a reminder, Meta Verified is a subscription that gives you access to a verification badge, proactive impersonation monitoring, and a real person for customer service.”
Oversight BoardFeb 2023
The share of Board recommendations Meta committed to implement or explore implementing rose from 75% to 78%.
Before
Integrity and Transparency Reports, Third Quarter 2022“The Oversight Board continues to be a valuable source of external perspective and accountability for Meta. The Board’s recommendations help us with our approach to content moderation by driving thoughtful improvements to our policies, operations and products.”
After
Integrity and Transparency Reports, Fourth Quarter 2022“The Oversight Board is a valuable source of external perspective and accountability for Meta that people can appeal to if they disagree with content enforcement decisions on Facebook and Instagram. We’re committed to implementing all of the Board’s content decisions and responding to all of their recommendations publicly, having already committed to implement — or explore the feasibility of implementing — 78% of their recommendations to date.”
Account integrityFeb 2023
Meta Verified adds a subscription-based account verification option alongside the application process described for notable accounts.
Before
New: Updates to Verification and Authentication Tools“In addition to the “About This Account” feature, the blue verified badge is an important way for you to know that the account you are interacting with is the authentic presence of a notable public figure, celebrity, global brand or entity.”
After
Meta Verified“Meta Verified Meta Verified is a new subscription bundle that includes account verification with impersonation protections and access to increased visibility and support. We want to make it easier for people, especially creators, to establish a presence so they can focus on building their communities on Instagram or Facebook.”
Account integrityFeb 2023
Verification expands beyond the prominence-focused application process to include a subscription bundle offering verification and impersonation protection.
Before
Another great Creator Week conversation, this time with the amazing @karenxcheng.“All right, that makes sense. Good to know. Um, seeking and getting verified. I got this question a lot too. That blue check mark. I know we all want it. So how do we get verified?”
After
Meta Verified“Meta Verified Meta Verified is a new subscription bundle that includes account verification with impersonation protections and access to increased visibility and support. We want to make it easier for people, especially creators, to establish a presence so they can focus on building their communities on Instagram or Facebook.”
Instagram SubscriptionsFeb 2023
Creators gained another exclusive-content format: broadcast channels restricted to paid subscribers.
Before
New Ways for Creators to Connect With Subscribers on Instagram“While exclusive stories and live allow you to connect with subscribers in the moment, we know that content that lives on your profile is an important way to attract new subscribers and retain your community. We’re introducing exclusive content as posts or reels, so your subscribers can engage in the comments and come back to enjoy the content you’ve created for them.”
After
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.”
Hidden WordsJan 2023
The planned test of filtering suggested posts by selected words becomes an announced Hidden Words extension covering recommendations in Feed, Explore and elsewhere.
Before
Testing More Ways to Control What You See on Instagram“Today, we’re announcing that we’re testing two new ways to help you shape your Instagram experience. And we’re sharing a list of controls and methods that you can use to see more of what you want on your Instagram Feed.”
After
New Control Features“second is bringing hidden words to recommendations. Hidden words already exists in DMs and in comments. It allows you to block any DMs and comments with a selected set of words that you can pick. Now what we're doing is we're extending hidden words to also support recommendations.”
Content recommendationsJan 2023
Instagram expanded Not Interested with multi-select, letting viewers dismiss several Explore recommendations at once.
Before
Hidden Gems - Controls“favorites feed. Then your favorites feed is the feed of posts or photos and videos from accounts that you decide to favorite. When you favorite someone, they are not notified of you. When you favorite them, again they are not notified.”
After
New Control Features“second is bringing hidden words to recommendations. Hidden words already exists in DMs and in comments. It allows you to block any DMs and comments with a selected set of words that you can pick. Now what we're doing is we're extending hidden words to also support recommendations.”