Instagram Updates Metrics to Focus Creators on ‘Views’

Your Instagram metrics are changing, because IG wants you to re-focus on reach instead of the traditional followers and likes.

For months, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has been working to convince creators that they should stop worrying about their follower count, and start focusing on reach instead. Because reach, Mosseri says, is what every creator really wants.

Not sure that’s entirely correct, but…

Today, Instagram has announced that it’s reforming its analytics to make “Views” the primary focus in each element.

As per Instagram:

“We’re introducing “Views” as the primary metric across all formats including reels, live, photos, carousels, and stories. These changes ensure creators have the same metrics across Instagram to help them better understand how their content is performing regardless of format and develop better strategies to help achieve their goals.”

To clarify, Instagram is specifically updating:

• Reels Plays are being relabeled to “Views”
• “Views” will become the primary metric for photos, carousels and stories
• In Insights, IG’s adding a “Views” icon instead of “Plays” and other metrics. This will replace “Accounts reached,” “Accounts engaged,” “Interactions,” and “Watch time.”

Also important:

“As part of this change, repeat views of content will be counted, similar to how plays and replays are counted for reels.”

So you’re not only going to be re-focused on views, but you’re also going to get a lot more of them, which Instagram probably hopes will help to ease in this shift.

So why the change?

Well, as noted, for months now, Instagram has been working to re-frame how creators prioritize different metrics, in order to shift the focus off of follower counts.

That’s because people don’t follow others the same way that they used to.

Back in the day, Instagram and Facebook’s algorithms were primarily structured around your following graph, i.e. the people and Pages that you’d chosen to follow, and anything outside of this was not eligible to be shown to you in the main feed. But now, that main feed is largely populated by content from profiles you don’t follow, but that IG’s algorithms think you might like.

Indeed, more than 50% of the posts that you see in your IG feed have now been funneled to you by Meta’s AI recommendations, and are not from profiles that you’ve selected. Which also means that who and what you follow is no longer the biggest influence over your in-app experience.

As such, people aren’t following anymore. Users have specifically noted this on Threads, that they’re struggling to build big followings like they did on Twitter in the past. That’s because users are increasingly relying on the algorithmic “For You” feed to show them what they like, and as Meta’s recommendations improve, they simply don’t need to follow chosen pages and profiles anymore.

Essentially, people are becoming more reliant on Meta’s systems to show them what they want.

That’s why Instagram, back in April, told creators to “stop crying” about their follower counts in the app, and it’s why Mosseri keeps telling you that what you really want is reach, whether you know it or not. Because usage habits have changed, and people aren’t using IG or Facebook in the same way.

That’s also why Mosseri is now saying that “Views”, along with “Sends per Reach”, are now the most important metrics to focus on for IG creators.

Sends per Reach tells you how many people are sharing your posts in DMs, which has become the primary way that people share content on IG. People aren’t Liking things at the same rates either, but they are forwarding cool stuff to friends more than ever before.

As such, Instagram is essentially reformatting its metrics to better align with these usage shifts.

So Instagram’s saying don’t get hung up on followers and likes, what matters most is that more people are seeing your content over time. That, ostensibly at least, is a much better indication of your performance in the app.

Though that also means that IG’s algorithm now has more control over your content performance.

If people are relying more on the system showing them what they want to see in the app, then you need to appeal to the algorithm to maximize reach. Logically, if engagement rates go up, that suggests that Instagram’s algorithm is showing users what they want to see, but it also means that you’re more reliant on playing the algorithm game, as opposed to building a following in the app.

Both play a part, but it does mean that building a dedicated audience in the app is likely harder than it has been.  

Or at least, a little more difficult to measure, because you’re relying on your follower count and your engagement stats, and the latter, IG says, is more important.

So it’s a shift in mindset, but there is a logic here, and it does align with usage trends.

Now you just need to realign your expectations around this new paradigm.