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So who exactly decides what people see on Instagram and Facebook? Meta almost never explains it in plain terms. But on October 21, it came close, in an unlikely place: its quarterly earnings call (Meta Q3 Earnings Report).
If you've never listened to one, an earnings call is a public conference call where a company's top executives report their results to investors and answer questions from analysts. This one featured CEO Mark Zuckerberg and CFO Susan Li, and Meta posts the full transcript on its investor relations site. Most of it is about money, AI spending, and legal costs, but they also spent a surprising amount of time explaining how they choose which posts and Reels to show, and that's the part we care about.
And because we know that nobody wakes up excited to read an earnings call transcript, we did that for you. I read the full transcript of Meta's Q3 2026 earnings call, pulled out everything about how Instagram and Facebook pick content, and turned it into things you can act on. In this post, you'll learn what Meta says it changed, what it probably means for your reach, and what to post this month, whether you're brand new to social media or a seasoned pro.
In this article, you'll learn how each part of Instagram and Facebook picks what to show, what that means for your posts, and what Meta says has changed recently. It works whether you're brand new to social media or you've been posting for years.
How does the Instagram algorithm decide what to show you?
Before we get into the new stuff, a quick refresher for anyone who's newer to this. First, there isn't just one algorithm. Instagram's head, Adam Mosseri, has explained that Instagram uses many systems and processes, with different ones for Feed, Stories, Reels, and Explore.
Second, there are two kinds of reach:
- Connected reach: your followers seeing your posts.
- Unconnected reach: people who don't follow you yet, who see your posts because the app thinks they'll like them.
Unconnected reach is how small accounts get discovered, and it's the part the app's recommendation system controls. Basically, the system predicts what each person wants to watch next and shows them that. Everything below is about how Meta says it's getting better at that guessing game.
Your Feed mixes posts from accounts you follow with recommended posts and ads. The signals Instagram says matter most, roughly in order, are your own activity (what you like, share, save, and comment on), information about the post (how popular it is and how fast people are engaging with it), information about the person who posted, and your history of interacting with that person.
The interactions Instagram looks at most closely in Feed are how likely you are to spend a few seconds on a post, comment, like, share, and tap the poster's profile photo.
Our tip: make posts people pause on, and talk to the people who comment. Replying to comments builds the interaction history that helps your posts show up for those followers again.
How does Instagram rank Reels?
Reels are built for discovery, so most of what people see comes from accounts they don't follow. Instagram says the most important predictions are whether someone will watch a Reel all the way through, like it, reshare it, or visit its audio page. Signals include the viewer's activity, their history with the creator, information about the Reel (like its audio and visuals), and information about the creator.
Instagram also says it tries to show less of certain Reels: ones that are low resolution, watermarked, muted, bordered, mostly text, or already posted on Instagram.
How does Instagram rank Reels?
Reels are built for discovery, so most of what people see comes from accounts they don't follow. Instagram says the most important predictions are whether someone will watch a Reel all the way through, like it, reshare it, or visit its audio page. Signals include the viewer's activity, their history with the creator, information about the Reel (like its audio and visuals), and information about the creator.
Instagram also says it tries to show less of certain Reels: ones that are low resolution, watermarked, muted, bordered, mostly text, or already posted on Instagram.
What changed in the Instagram Reels algorithm in 2026?
Reels are now ranked as a sequence
Susan Li said Instagram's upgraded model now ranks sequences of Reels at a time, instead of judging each Reel independently. Meta says this, along with richer watch-time signals, increased Reels time spent by over 4%.
We can't see inside the system, so this part is our read. It suggests that what a viewer watches before and after your Reel may matter. A good way to work with that is to make Reels that belong together: same topic, same format, same promise. (Think "a mini series," not "a random Reel about lunch.")
Fresh Reels are getting more room
Nearly 45% of recommended Instagram Reels are now less than one day old, up more than 11 percentage points from Q2. A bigger share of what people see is brand new.
Our read: posting new stuff regularly is worth it. That doesn't mean old posts vanish, only that new ones get a real shot. If staying fresh sounds exhausting, batch creating is your friend. Film a few Reels in one sitting, then spread them out over the week.
What didn't change
Nothing in the call announced new ranking rules. According to Mosseri in early 2025, the main signals are watch time, likes per reach, and sends per reach, and nothing Meta said on this call contradicts that. For a full rundown of recent changes, see our Instagram algorithm updates guide.
Takeaway: Instagram is getting better at showing people fresh Reels that fit what they're already watching. Pick a topic, stay consistent, and keep posting.
Does Instagram read your captions?
Sort of. Susan Li said Meta processes public Instagram posts every day through AI systems that work out what a post is about, and that this improved engagement with Instagram search results by 1%.
In practice, clear beats clever. Say what your post is about in plain words in the caption, and use the words your customers would use. Our social media SEO guide goes deeper if you want to get into it.
How does the Facebook algorithm work in 2026?
Meta's Transparency Center explains that Facebook ranks connected content (posts from friends, Pages, and groups you follow) in four steps:
- Inventory: it collects the posts that could appear in your Feed.
- Signals: for each post, it looks at thousands of signals.
- Predictions: it predicts how likely you are to interact with each post, and whether a post might be problematic and deserve reduced distribution.
- Relevance score: it combines the predictions into a score and sorts posts by it.
After that, Meta says it mixes in recommended content from accounts you aren't connected to, and then ads. When you tap "Interested" or "Not interested" on a post, it temporarily raises or lowers the score for that post and similar ones.
Our read: the score is personal. The same post can rank high for one person and low for another, which is why "why didn't my followers see this?" is such a common question. It's rarely about the post alone. It's about the post and each viewer.
The big Facebook news from the call is about new posts. Meta said it finished rolling out a new system that labels content by what it's about and uses that to suggest posts. The goal is to surface relevant new posts before they've built up lots of likes and comments. Meta says it now covers roughly a quarter of unconnected Feed views and half of Reels views on Facebook.
"Unconnected" means people who don't follow you yet. So if you've been skipping your Facebook Page because "nobody sees it anyway," this is a decent reason to give it another go. (No promises, but it's an encouraging sign for smaller accounts.)
Meta also said Facebook Reels time spent hit all-time highs globally and in the US, and that doubling the amount of viewing history its ranking model can consider increased US Reels watch time by 1%. Our read: Facebook is paying closer attention to what each person has watched before, so staying on topic helps there too.
Our tip: write posts that start real conversations, avoid "comment YES if you agree" bait, and check your Page Insights to see which posts your audience engages with.
Why video gets so much of the spotlight
The call also showed where people's attention is going, which tells you what the system has to work with. Zuckerberg said Meta's apps are now used by 3.64 billion people every day, with all-time highs in engagement on Facebook and Instagram, driven by strong growth in video.
Susan Li shared more detail:
- Instagram: time spent per user hit an all-time high and grew double digits year over year, across both Reels and Feed.
- Facebook: Reels time spent reached all-time highs globally and in the US, also growing double digits.
- Threads: time spent per user grew over 20% year over year. Zuckerberg also said Threads has passed X in monthly active users, though outside trackers measure this differently, so take that one with a pinch of salt. (Social Media Today has a good breakdown of why daily and monthly numbers tell different stories.)
Our read: more people are watching more video, and the apps are working hard to keep it that way. That doesn't mean photos and carousels are dead (Feed time grew too), but video is where the extra attention is going.
Final thoughts
If you remember one thing, make it this: both apps are trying to show each person what they'll find worth their time. Make posts people watch, reply to, save, and send, describe them clearly, and keep your content original. The details will keep changing, but that goal won't.
What's the one thing you're going to try first? Tell us in the comments!
And if "keep showing up" is the hard part, we can help. Book a MeetEdgar demo and see how MeetEdgar helps you plan and schedule your social media across Instagram, Facebook, Threads, and more, so staying consistent doesn't eat your week.
