Instagram’s Threads says it has made a change that could affect how people’s social media feeds appear.
According to its boss, the Meta-owned social media platform recently updated its algorithm to show people more posts they are likely to want to read. Now, the app seems to display more posts from accounts that users already follow.
This announcement follows a recent theory on Threads, X, and other platforms that the number of automated accounts on social media has dropped sharply. Users have been happy to see more posts from people they actually want to interact with.
Many people pointed to an attack on the Russian internet company Yandex, which took down many of its servers. Some suggested this incident might have also removed automated traffic from the internet.
Data shows the incident greatly reduced bot traffic from Yandex and from Russia overall. However, there is no clear evidence that it significantly lowered the number of automated accounts posting online, since automated traffic can serve many different purposes.
There may be other reasons why posts on different social media platforms seem to have improved in quality lately. Threads said it recently made a change to “show you what we think you’ll be interested in,” including updates that make the feed show more posts from accounts users actually follow.
“On Threads, we’re always trying our best to show you what we think you’ll be interested in,” wrote Connor Hayes, the head of Threads at Meta. “This involves a mix of posts from profiles you already follow, as well as some you may not have discovered yet.”
“We recently made a change that could increase the posts you see from those you follow. For creators, this should mean you reach more of your followers on average. For everyone, this should hopefully mean you get a better feed filled with more of what you want.”
Mr. Hayes did not say exactly when the change took effect.