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A Guide To Social Media Algorithms

Social media algorithms are a sorting post mechanism in a user's feed based on relevancy instead of publishing time. Each social media has its own algorithm and by knowing it you can achieve better results on any platform.


Instagram Algorithm

  • Relationships matter. You’re more likely to see content from accounts you engage with. So brands have to interact more with their followers.
  • Interest rule. Your feed will mostly consist of content you’re keen on.
  • Relevance is key. Relevance is based on factors like timeliness and topic trends.
  • Popularity pops. Post interaction speed and engagement with an account in general — all that help the content get to the Explore page. 


TikTok Algorithm

  • Previous interactions. This includes accounts followed and hidden or content you’ve engaged with or marked not interesting.
  • Behavior on the Discover tab. This factor analyzes captions, sounds, effects, and trending topics of content.
  • Location and language. You’ll likely see content from your country or in your mother tongue.
  • Trends. Using trending sounds and effects can help make your content more discoverable.
  • Follower count does not matter. TikTok’s real distinction is that follower count is NOT a ranking signal.


Facebook Algorithm

  • Facebook connections. Your feed will primarily be filled with content from people and pages you follow and interact with.
  • Content type. If you watch videos, you’ll get more videos. If you interact with photos, you’ll get more photos, and so on.
  • Engagement level. Popular posts, with lots of engagement, are more likely to be boosted by the algorithm.
  • Content quality. Facebook describes it as “meaningful,” “informative,” “accurate,” and “authentic” content.


YouTube Algorithm

  • Video performance. Popular videos get pushed more. It’s measured through view duration, likes, dislikes, and click-through rate.
  • Watch history. YouTube recommends content similar to what you have watched before.
  • Context. Topically related videos or videos that are often watched together are more likely to show in your recommendations. 


LinkedIn Algorithm

  • Post quality. LinkedIn’s algorithm does an initial sort to flag content as spam, low-quality, or high-quality. You can guess which you should aim for.
  • Early engagement. LinkedIn’s algorithm uses early engagement as a secondary quality test before pushing the content out further.
  • LinkedIn connections. Closer connections see more of your content, while the pages, groups, and hashtags people follow are used to determine their likely interest in a topic.
  • We get into much greater detail in our post breaking down the intricacies of the LinkedIn algorithm.


Twitter Algorithm

  • User interactions. As Twitter defines it, “accounts you interact with frequently, Tweets you engage with, and much more.”
  • Recency. This specifically affects what shows up in trending topics or What’s Happening.
  • Location. This will also affect what you see in Trends.
  • Current popularity. How much engagement and activity are in this Topic/Trend/Tweet right now, especially from people you follow.
  • Get the full scoop in our post on the Twitter algorithm.


Pinterest Algorithm

  • Website quality and ownership. Pinterest judges the quality of a website based on the popularity of Pins that link to it and prioritizes content from the website owner.
  • Engagement levels. Evaluated for both individual Pins and for the Pinner’s account.


What to focus on to make social media algorithms work for you:


  1. Quality of content
  2. Following trends
  3. Experimenting with mechanics
  4. Encourage your audience with clear call to action
  5. More video or motion-design
2022-12-23 10:34