A bunch of Instagram users are absolutely losing it over the company’s plan to roll out a ranking algorithm for its photo and video feed.
Instagram announced a few weeks ago that it was working on a feed algorithm, the same technology that Facebook uses to order the posts you see within News Feed. A few users got angry. One group started a Change.org petition pleading with Instagram to keep the reverse-chronological order it currently has. But for the most part, the news seemed to be received and then quietly tucked away (or temporarily forgotten).
But on Monday, panic ensued. Instagram influencers under the impression that the algorithm is going into effect this week (it’s not) are losing their minds at the idea that some of their users won’t see their posts.
As a result, they are asking their followers to “turn on notifications,” which is to say, asking their followers to sign up to receive an alert every time the influencer posts a photo or video to the service. Thirsty!
Here’s what they look like:
Some users aren’t loving the instruction, so they are posting memes mocking people asking for notifications.
Here’s Instagram’s take on all of this:
“This is not being implemented tomorrow,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement provided to Re/code. “We still have weeks, or even months, of testing to go. Currently the test groups are very small. When we roll it out broadly, we will definitely let the community know.”
Clearly, Instagram could have done a better job explaining the timing of the roll out. Then again, social media trends have a way of catching fire regardless.
We don’t yet know how this algorithm will work. We don’t know if influencers will see a massive drop in reach. They obviously think they will, and it’s not sitting well. That fear makes sense when you consider that many social media influencers get paid by brands to promote their products. If they don’t reach big audiences, they lose their value.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
