You’ve Googled Mutual Assurance to get a phone number, and suddenly your Facebook, Instagram Reels, and YouTube recommendations are flooded with insurance ads. You’ve hovered a bit too long over an ad for a wrinkle treatment, and suddenly every wrinkle treatment known to mankind is in your feed.
Algorithms used by social media sites are what make them so popular with advertisers and many consumers. Your likes, comments, and search history help them determine which types of posts you are more inclined to interact with. Sometimes that can seem a bit creepy, and sometimes confusing. You find yourself believing these algorithms can do more than they should -"Did I do a search for staplers or did they read my mind?"
When your feed gets to the point that you aren’t seeing what you want or too much of one thing, it is time for a reset. Here’s how you can manage suggested content directly in each app’s feed.
TikTok
Use TikTok’s Refresh feature to reset your feed. You may not have access to this feature yet – it is still in the testing phase – but wait a little while and you’ll be able to use it.
In the interim, you can click on Content Preferences > Refresh your For You Feed, and you’re done.
Instagram suggests posts based on who you follow as well as the posts you’ve liked, saved or commented on. You can adjust your feeds in one of two ways: