Don't Be Fooled by Your Instagram Feed. Here's the Truth About Those Notifications.

Celebrities and big brands are pestering followers to turn on notifications for their Instagram accounts in fear of upcoming changes to the photo-sharing platform's feed. But giving into the pressure may mean flooding your phone with alerts every time one of these accounts posts a new image — and you probably don't want that.  

Hysteria has hit Instagram as it considers making feeds algorithmically tuned. That means popular content would rise to the top of feeds and everything else would settle at the bottom. Specifically, Instagram wants to prioritize posts based on your engagement with an account, according to the New York Times. What has 'Grammers nervous is the effect the tweak will have on their bottom line. 

Instagram celebrities make big cash from branded sponsors based on their reach. If Instagram's new algorithm inhibits the number of people that see their posts, advertisers won't be willing to pay as much. Thus, a number of Instagrammers are begging their followers to TURN ON NOTIFICATIONS, OK?!?

While notifications *might* keep people engaging with or viewing an influencer's posts, they are more likely to become a nuisance. You may love Kim Kardashian West, but you probably don't want to get pinged every time she posts. That's not to say Instagram notifications aren't a great tool, but they're best used for of-the-moment posts — like ones that alert to you to an impending sale from your favorite designer.   

The fear mongering surrounding the eventual feed changes on Instagram prompted the social platform to respond. Despite what certain people are saying, Instagram said via Twitter, changes aren't happening yet, but it promises to let you know when they do.