During a recent earnings call, Zuckerberg said about 15% of what users see in their feeds on Facebook is “suggested content.” On Instagram, that percentage is slightly more than 15%.

Historically, users have ONLY seen feed posts from accounts they follow or paid placements, with the exception of “suggestions” – as in, “since you follow her you should follow him too” or “so-and-so commented on so-and-so’s post” types of prompts.

Now, however—in trying to keep up with TikTok—they’re slipping in more-and-more AI-suggested content. It’s the “For You Effect,” if you will.

Granted, the Reels feed has been made up of mostly suggested content from the get-go. It’s Insta’s main feed that’s changing. Who knows… maybe someday down-the-road instagram will merge those feeds in some way, shape, or form 🤷!?

You may call, back in July, for instance, Instagram pushed a partial update whereby a bunch of users’ Home feeds suddenly went full-bleed (i.e., a 9:16 aspect ratio like the Reels feed) and 75% of the content they were seeing was “suggested.” Suffice it to say, the change was NOT well received so Instagram made a statement and reversed the update.

Welp, per Zuckerberg, the current game-plan is that by the end of 2023 the percentage of “suggested content” users will see in the main feed will surpass 30%.

How do you feel about that⁉️ Here are my (off-the-cuff) thoughts:

Followers/Friends (really) won’t matter. On TikTok, for instance, audiences are somewhat fluid—meaning, they’re comparatively unfixed and ever-changing. Users see what they see in the For You page because TikTok’s algorithm decided it… and whether or not a user follows an account is a relatively unimportant ranking signal (all factors considered).

On Instagram, though, who you follow (and who follows you) matters big-time—at least, for now it does. Notwithstanding, as feeds become more-and-more crowded with suggested content — assuming Instagram continues to parody TikTok’s approach — then who users follow will matter less-and-less (algorithmically speaking).

From a marketing standpoint, FREQUENCY—i.e. when an audience sees you again-and-again—is fundamental in terms of advancing would-be customers from “attention” to “action.” In this context, its potency could be significantly diminished. So…

Build your email list. Social media is, let’s face it, a shade volatile these days: ever-evolving algorithms, platforms pivoting their core-competences to compete with newcomers, and so forth. But email is steady as a rock 🪨

🚨 If email marketing poses a steep learning-curve, make sure to check out my course, INBOX HERO 📥: Tapping into the marketing G.O.A.T. - EMAIL 🚨

Social becomes less-and-less local. Chances are that most of your friends on Facebook, for instance, probably live proximate to you. That’s your community. Sure, you’ll have out-of-area family, friends, peers, and so forth—but the bulk of your connections probably live locally. Your Instagram is likely similar (or, perhaps, was in the beginning).

Suggested content will change that. Interest-based algorithms like TikTok’s For You page, Instagram’s Reels feed, or, per Zuck's comments, Facebook and Instagram’s main feeds will distribute content to users here, there, and everywhere. It’s not a bad thing, per se—it just means that the local impact of organic content on social will most likely shrink.

Personally, I’m encouraging my coaching and consulting clients to promote their content with paid ads that target locals in their marketplace.