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Gone are the days when Facebook and Instagram feeds were only filled with the latest updates from friends, family, or favorite pages. These major social media platforms, both owned by Meta, have been showing content based on AI recommendations. And CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently said people could expect to see more posts from people or pages they do not follow.
During Meta’s Q2 2022 earnings call on Wednesday, Zuckerberg noted that AI is one of the two “technological waves” that influence Meta’s businesses at the moment. He said having more AI-recommended content displayed on Instagram and Facebook feeds has been one of the “main transformations” in Meta’s businesses, and confirmed that this should increase over time.
Facebook and Instagram users may have noticed the presence of more “suggested” content on their feeds. This is where they find posts from people, pages, and groups they do not even follow on the said platforms. Zuckerberg said about 15 percent of the content displayed on Facebook feeds is recommended by AI. Instagram feeds, on the other hand, show “a little more than” that 15 percent. “And we expect these numbers to more than double by the end of next year,” Zuckerberg noted (transcription via Motley Fool).
With the growing portion of Instagram and Facebook feeds composed of AI-recommended posts, Zuckerberg said the growth in Reels engagement on both platforms has been significant as well. “This quarter, we saw a more than 30% increase in the time that people spent engaging with Reels across Facebook and Instagram,” the Meta CEO said. “After launching a new large AI model for recommendations, we saw a 15% increase in watch time in the Reels video player on Facebook alone.”
Meta’s trajectory in making posts recommended using AI, especially applied on Reels, more visible on Facebook and Instagram will likely invite more criticisms from regular users and even A-list celebrities as time goes on. But it is worth noting that both platforms have previously introduced new options for users to revert to a feed with posts displayed in chronological order.
On the Instagram app, people can enable the “Following” feed for a chronological timeline of posts from their friends and pages they follow. Zuckerberg has recently announced a similar feature for Facebook.
