Top Posts Now on Separate Tab

I just noticed this yesterday, but haven't found anything written about it on the Instagram blog or anywhere else.

The TOP posts for a given hashtag are now appearing on a separate tab (see attached image), right next to another separate tab for RECENT posts. There's also no limit of posts shown, unlike before where the top 9 posts were shown on a 3x3 grid right above the recent posts, which used to appear on the same page.

I'm only noticing this for hashtag searches and the 3x3 top post grid is still appearing for location searches, with the "Most Recent" posts underneath.

I logged in to separate IG accounts to see if this is something they're just slowly rolling out on a per account basis, but noticed the same thing for all of them.

Anyone else noticed this for hashtag searches? Thoughts on what it all means and IG's purpose in making the change?

Interesting. I heard they're bringing in a repost feature but I hope that's just a rumour.

This change would generate a lot more views and interest towards the top posts decreasing the engagement and views which the most recent posts get as the users wold have to swipe left to see the most recent posts.

Also, it would be exciting to see if Instagram would show more top posts when scrolled down past those nine images and how does their algorithm consider the next images which pop up below those.

twitter.followers said:

This change would generate a lot more views and interest towards the top posts decreasing the engagement and views which the most recent posts get as the users wold have to swipe left to see the most recent posts.

Also, it would be exciting to see if Instagram would show more top posts when scrolled down past those nine images and how does their algorithm consider the next images which pop up below those.

Click to expand...

Yes, as I mentioned on the original post, they're not limiting the top posts to just 9. They're showing a lot more (no limit). They're just separating the top and recent posts on different tabs. I did notice that this is just something on mobiles. On the PC, nothing has changed. Nevertheless, the great majority of people use IG on their mobiles.