Nobody exactly knows entirely how Instagram’s algorithm works. However, we can ascertain certain aspects of it, as well as come to certain theories about how it functions.
One of the mysteries we have is the question of “What does the order of Instagram story viewers mean?” While we can’t know 100% why, we have a pretty good idea, which we will explore in this article.
What Does the Order of Instagram Story Viewers Mean for You?
You are probably wondering how your content’s reach and level of engagement are affected by the order of your Stories in peoples’ feeds. We’ve got some insights that can help enlighten you.
The first 50 views appear to get sorted in reverse chronological order. What this means is that you will initially see the latest viewer initially. If you never receive 50+ views then you probably don’t need to worry about what happens when there are more views than that.
When you have over 50 views, views are prioritized based on the level of engagement another person has with you. This means reverse chronological order is no longer a factor that comes into play.
Let’s say you like and connect on someone else’s content often. You will likely see their profile picture show up more often in the top bar where Stories are displayed. The less you engage with someone’s content, the farther out you will have to scroll to get to their Stories.
Note: The Instagram algorithm changes frequently, and sometimes on a daily basis. This means fully understanding how it works is very challenging.
What Impacts the Order of Stories
There are several reasons for the order of Instagram Stories changing. Some of these include:
- The amount of likes someone made on another person’s Stories
- The amount of comments someone made on another person’s Comments
- The frequency of likes someone made on another person’s story
- The frequency of Direct Messages someone sent to another person
The main priority of social media platforms like Instagram is to keep you engaged in their apps. This is why they will generally show you the content most relevant to you.
When you spend time looking at a post, like it, save it, and comment on it, Instagram’s algorithm takes all of this into account and updates what it shows you. This also holds true for Stories.
Note: There is no difference in the order of Stories if you have a Business Account on Instagram. The algorithm works exactly the same way in terms of how it displays content to you.
Bottom Line: Although Instagram’s AI-run algorithm’s secrets are not entirely known, we do understand that engagement levels are heavily weighted and considered. This should help answer the question of “What does the order of Instagram story viewers mean?”
