The actual reason you get fewer likes on Instagram than you used to, explained

If your Instagram posts are getting fewer likes than they did back-in-the-day, then please don’t panic. Your friends don’t all secretly hate you. I’m sure you’re still cool. The (very complicated) Instagram algorithm is constantly changing, and it’s probably impacted how many likes you get on each post. Here are three huge recent changes to the Instagram algorithm which may explain why you’re getting fewer likes on your posts than you used to.

1. The dawn of Reels

The Instagram algorithm priorities Reels over posts, and carousels over single pics. Your friends’ feeds might be crammed with too many silly cat videos and Traitors edits for them to spot your pics. If you post a single photo of yourself, without any music, then the ranking system is less likely to show that to people than if you shared a Reel.

2. The ‘distribution’ of posts changed lots last year

Back in the day, an account’s content would be seen by people who followed it first. Over the last two years, the Instagram algorithm system has changed. In 2024, Insta announced “a new input to ranking that will give smaller creators more distribution”. As of April 2024, “every piece of eligible content is shown to a small audience that we think will enjoy it, regardless of whether they follow the account that posted it or not.”

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The point of this was to make it easier for small accounts to reach new audiences. Supposedly, this would put them on a more equal footing with whopping accounts with a gazillion followers.

This change may help a lot of newbie content creators and wannabe influencers. However, it also means your friends’ feeds may contain more content from people they don’t follow. Your friends might have more random reels to scroll through before they get to your posts. So, they could be less likely to see your holiday pics. Similarly, if your account is public, then Insta might be showing your posts to people who don’t follow you ahead of those who do.

3. ‘Likes’ are less important to the algorithm

Likes are no longer the be-all and end-all of Instagram. In August 2024, Insta announced that views were now the “primary metric” for tracking the success of all content, instead of likes.

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If a post got lots of likes, then the Insta algorithm used to take that as a sign that a post was good, and worth showing to more people. Likes are still important, but the algorithm now puts more weight on how much content has been shared and saved.

Presumably, your friends are liking your vibey winter photo dump. They’re not saving it or forwarding it on to ten people. The algorithm could take that as a sign the post is less exciting, and prioritise it less.

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