User-Controlled Feeds Are Taking Over Social Media in 2026
For years, you could rely on Instagram's algorithm to push your content to interested viewers based on engagement patterns. But that's changing fast. Viewers aren't just scrolling past content they don't want anymore—they can now actively tune their feeds to exclude entire content categories. This feature is becoming more sophisticated every month, and if your content doesn't consistently deliver value, you could see significant drops in your reach.
The Evolution of Feed Control
Instagram introduced early algorithm control tools in January 2025, confirmed by Adam Mosseri himself. By September, they rolled out major updates with the "Tune Your Algorithm" feature that lets users add or exclude interest topics. Now in late 2025, they're beta testing even more granular configuration options.
📅 Timeline: How We Got Here
January 2025
Instagram introduces early algorithm control tools, giving users basic control over what appears in their feeds.
September 2025
Major update rolls out the "Tune Your Algorithm" feature, allowing users to add or exclude entire interest topics from their feeds.
Late 2025
Beta testing begins for even more granular configuration options, giving users unprecedented control over their content experience.
What This Means for Your Content
You can now exclude entire topics from your feed. If your feed is overloaded with, let's say, politics, but you want food and travel content, you can adjust it manually. Tired of seeing fitness content? You can suppress that category completely.
This changes everything for creators and brands. For years, you could ride engagement momentum and algorithmic favor. But when users actively suppress your content type through preference tuning, you can't rely on passive discovery anymore. You need to take the initiative and give your target audience exactly what they want.
⚠️ The Wake-Up Call
If your content doesn't consistently deliver value, users will simply suppress your entire category. There's no second chance when someone clicks "Don't show me this type of content." You're competing for intentional attention now, not just algorithmic favor.
How to Adapt Your Strategy
1. Create Content People Actively Want
You're not competing for algorithmic favor anymore—you're competing for intentional attention. Every piece of content needs to deliver genuine value that makes people glad they chose to see your posts.
2. Focus on Consistent Engagement
Forget chasing viral hits. If users engage with your content regularly, they won't suppress your category. Build a loyal audience through consistency, not one-hit wonders.
3. Diversify Your Content Themes
Don't make your brand so narrow that users can easily tune you out with preference settings. Offer varied but related content that keeps your audience engaged across multiple interests.
💡 The Silver Lining
This change is not a bad thing. It actually favors creators and brands who take time to define their target audiences and make content specifically for them. When you know exactly who you're serving and what they want, user-controlled feeds work in your favor.
Think about it: if someone chooses to see your content type, they're a highly qualified audience member. They want what you're offering. That's more valuable than passive scrollers who happened to see your post.
What Successful Brands Are Doing
The brands thriving in this new environment share common characteristics. They've moved away from generic content designed to appeal to everyone and instead focus on serving a specific audience with precision.
They're asking better questions: "What does our target audience actively want to see?" instead of "What might go viral?" They're building communities around shared interests rather than chasing broad reach. And most importantly, they're treating every post as an opportunity to prove why someone should keep their content category enabled.
The Old Rules vs. The New Rules
Under the old system, you could post mediocre content and still reach people through algorithmic distribution. If you had strong engagement on one post, the algorithm would push your next several posts to more people, regardless of quality.
Under the new system, every user is actively curating their experience. If they suppress your content category once, you lose access to that viewer permanently—or at least until they manually re-enable your category, which rarely happens.
This shift rewards intentionality over volume, quality over quantity, and audience understanding over broad appeal. The creators who succeed will be those who truly know their audience and deliver exactly what that audience wants to see.
The Power Has Shifted to Users
User-controlled feeds represent a fundamental shift in social media. For the first time, audiences have real power to shape their experience beyond simple following and unfollowing. They can suppress entire content categories, tune their interests, and actively curate what appears in their feeds.
For creators and brands, this means the bar has been raised. You can't rely on algorithmic luck or engagement tricks anymore. You need to create content so valuable that people actively choose to see it. The good news? When you nail this, you'll have a highly engaged, intentional audience that actually wants your content. That's far more valuable than passive reach ever was.