Instagram is quietly working on yet another feature to give users more control over what shows up in their feeds, and this one sounds like the most hands-on approach yet.
You might remember that late last year, Instagram rolled out its “reset recommendations” button. At the time, it launched first in the US and later expanded globally. The idea was simple: if your Explore page or Reels feed starts serving content you didn’t sign up for, you could wipe the slate clean and let the algorithm start fresh.
Now, Meta is preparing to go a step further.
Last week, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri shared a video announcing that the platform has crossed a massive milestone of three billion monthly active users. In the same breath, he hinted at a new feature designed to help people “shape what they see” on the app.
According to Mosseri, Instagram will soon start testing a way for users to tune the algorithm by adding and removing topics based on their interests, starting with Reels. From what’s been seen so far, the feature includes two main parts:
- What you want to see more of
- What you want to see less of
Looking at the screenshot below, users will be able to describe their interests, and Instagram will automatically add relevant keywords to their dashboard. Think of it as building your own content filter, but without needing to mess with complicated settings.
There’s no official rollout timeline yet, but internal testing is believed to be underway with wider rollout expected in the coming months.
And honestly? This might be one of the more thoughtful updates Instagram has cooked up in a while. In a world where recommendations and algorithmic feeds keep expanding, giving users the reins — even partially — is a welcome change. This comes hot on the heels of reports that Instagram is also working on the ability to schedule stories within the app.
I don’t use Instagram that much, but I really like the flexibility of this feature. And I’d love to see something like it land on my favourite social media app, X, sooner rather than later. Sure, X has the “Following” tab that shows posts from people you actually chose to follow and I can also mute certain phrases to fine-tune my timeline, but Instagram’s idea sounds more intentional, even though I haven’t used it yet.
For now, all we can do is wait and watch. But if Instagram pulls this off well, it could set a new standard for how social media apps handle personalization.
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