Instagram Algorithm Explained for 2025: What You Need to Know

Instagram recently revealed significant changes to its algorithm for 2025. In a series of short videos shared on his Instagram profile, CEO Adam Mosseri explained how the algorithm works and provided valuable insights into how content is ranked and distributed.

This insight offers valuable direction for content creators and social media managers looking to optimize their strategies. To make it easy for you, we’ve compiled and broken down all the key details in this article.

How Instagram organizes content

They reveled that Instagram now categorizes content distribution into two distinct channels:

1. Connected Reach

• Focuses on content shown to existing followers
• Prioritizes engagement through likes
• Aims to nurture established community relationships

2. Unconnected Reach

• Targets potential new followers
• Emphasizes content sharing and discovery
• Helps expand audience reach

Why does this matter? Each type of ranking is influenced by different metrics, meaning you’ll need to tweak your strategy depending on whether you want to engage your current followers or attract new ones.

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What metrics matter the most for Instagram

Mosseri pointed out three primary metrics to determine content performance in 2025:

Watch Time

• Most crucial metric for both connected and unconnected reach
• Longer viewer retention leads to higher content ranking
• Quality of engagement matters more than quantity

TL;DR: The more time someone spends on your content, the better your ranking.

Likes

• Traditional engagement metric that remains significant
• Carries more weight for connected reach
• Indicates content resonance with existing followers

TL;DR: Likes still carries significant weight, especially for your followers.

Sends

• Critical for content discovery
• More influential for unconnected reach
• Drives organic content distribution

TL;DR: Sends will be a major driver of discovery, particularly for reaching new audiences.

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What is the most important metric for each type of ranking?

For connected reach (current followers): Likes carry more weight

For unconnected reach (potential followers): Sends become more significant

How to reach non-Followers

In the second video of this series, Mosseri also shared the best practices for unconnected reach. That is, what to do if you want your content to appear as a recommendation to people who don’t follow you yet. Here are his five tips:

1. Avoid watermarks (content with visible watermarks (like from TikTok) won’t rank well)
2. Add audio (especially for photos/carousels)
3. Keep videos short (ideally under three minutes)
4. Be original (this doesn't mean you can't work with someone else's content, but you have to significantly make it your own)
5. Maintain good account status (you can check by going to your profile and hitting "account status")

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Instagram Stories

In the third video of his series, Mosseri discusses Instagram Stories, a feature designed to connect users with their friends.

Stories can be a powerful tool for engaging your most dedicated followers with behind-the-scenes and time-sensitive content.

How does Instagram rank Stories?

The algorithm prioritizes content based on how likely a user is to:

• Tap on your Story
• Like your Story
• Reply with a message

Pro Tip: If you’re using Stories, focus on interactive and engaging content that encourages reactions and conversations.

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What does this all mean for you?

These insights from the CEO confirm what we already knew: Instagram's is designed to prioritize keeping users engaged and entertained. But understanding how Instagram's algorithm works provides a clear roadmap for enhancing your social media performance. It’s an opportunity to align your content strategy with Instagram’s priorities.

Here's how to translate these insights into real-world action:

1. Prioritize shareable content

If you are focusing on unconnected reach (you want to reach new audiences), create posts that people want to send to their friends or share on their stories. For example, you could create memes, relatable posts or helpful tips.

2. Resonate with your audience

To maintain strong connections with your current followers, focus on content that resonates. Posts that address their challenges, educate them, or entertain them are more likely to generate likes.

3. Focus on content quality

For both follower engagement and audience growth, creating content that genuinely captures and holds attention is key. Design content that viewers want to share, not just scroll past (and pay a special attention to watch time and hooks)

4. Follow best practices (for unconnected reach)

Lastly, if your goal is to appear in recommendations, follow Mosseri five tips and make sure your content is original, uses audio effectively, avoids watermarks, and adheres to Instagram’s guidelines.