Snapchat Reverts to Chronological Stories for Some of its Users
It appears Snapchat made a few changes to its redesign when some users noticed their friend’s Stories reverting to the chronological order. The algorithmically sorted feed, similar to Facebook and Instagram, has frustrated the app’s most loyal users since its launch.
The new tweak shows the most recent Stories in reverse order, making it easier to keep track of your friends’ recent activities and know what’s relevant now. It’s more logical to browse with the old system since users aren’t exactly interested in something that happened hours ago.
Despite the clamor for it, chronological feed prioritizes users who post often and can put your friends’ posts out of sight. You’re more likely to miss their content unlike for feeds driven by algorithms. Under the algorithmic ranking redesign, people you often interact with will be placed at the top of the feed.
Before Snapchat took its cue from other platforms, algorithmic sorting has helped Instagram and Twitter boost their growth. When Snapchat rolled out its algorithm-driven redesign in the Q4 2017, itsrevenues improved and daily user count increased to 187 million from 178 million. In its bid to gain more users, the interface was tweaked to improve the experience and made more personalized.
Snapchat’s redesign included the Discover page. It contains your subscriptions to celebrities and brands, as well as Stories you might be interested in based on your app activity. Because of its separation from the Stories section, there’s less clutter on your chronological feed.
The algorithmic approach made it easier for casual users of the app to connect with close friends and see more relevant content without wading through acquaintances. But with the classic chronological feed, Snapchat’s most loyal and engaged users get to be updated right away.
It’s unclear whether the update is for testing, part of a full-scale change, or completely something else. As of writing, Snap hasn’t commented on the reported change.
