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Instagram may soon show posts from users you don't follow in your feed

Johannesburg - If your friends liked something on photo-sharing social network Instagram, it might now show up on your feed - even if you do not follow that particular person.

Instagram's newest feature will suggest posts for you based on those that have been liked by other accounts you follow. In the past only posts of people you followed, appeared in the feed.

This is one of the largest changes to the popular social media app since its inception, and will expose users to a wider network of posts. 

The mobile, desktop, and Internet-based photo-sharing application, which allows users to share pictures and videos either publicly or privately to pre-approved followers, plan to introduce the ‘Recommended for You’ post in the new year.

That particular post is normally found within the ‘Explore’ section of the app in a user’s feed and previously they wouldn’t be pushed to your home feed, as TechCrunch reports.

You could also see what posts friends had liked in the Following section, if you choose to do so.

With the Recommended post, you will be able to like or comment on the posts, even if you don't follow the person. Instagram plans to have 3 to 5 recommended posts in your feed. 

The social network recently confirmed the new function to The Verge , adding that the new feature was in the testing phase.  It will display posts of users that you follow, who have liked a certain post. Instagram's algorithm will then determine if that post should show up in your feed. 

Coupled with the new feature, Instagram have also included a new section on its website to teach people how to control which images and videos are displayed on their timeline. 

As with the explore feature, users whose accounts are set to private will not appear in the feeds of other users than their approved followers. 

According to the SA Social Media Landscape 2018 study, conducted by brand intelligence organisation Ornico and high-tech market research consultancy World Wide Worx, Instagram is used by 3.8 million South Africans.

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