Customize Your Instagram Reels for 2026

In a recent initiative, Instagram is giving users the power to shape their Reels experience by introducing a suite of features aimed at customizing the content recommendations presented by the algorithm. This update is accessible to English-speaking users worldwide, providing a pathway to highlight favorite topics for the upcoming year.

Initially, users will be welcomed with a curated list of topics that Instagram’s AI predicts they may find intriguing based on their activity. There's flexibility to remove these suggestions or integrate new interests. Additionally, a section is now reserved for users to specify topics they prefer to minimize, alongside the novel '2026 algorithm builder,' which empowers users to choose three standout interests.

Navigating the Algorithm Adjustments

Although the 2026 customization is not yet active for everyone, users have reported modifying their preferred topics and observing swift algorithmic responses. For instance, selecting ‘snowboarding’ resulted in seeing content mislabeled under this tag, highlighting potential classification errors — the clip was actually on freestyle skiing. This underscores an area for improvement in aligning perceived interests with actual content, yet offers a deterrent against an unavoidable spiral of undesired trends.

Selective Content Choices

However, this customization feature doesn't extend to advertising content. Adding ‘advertisements’ to the list of undesired topics results in an error message, prompting users to consider other interests or categories. While ‘sponsored content’ and ‘artificial intelligence’ were successfully added to the ‘see less’ category, it's suspected that the latter mainly affects AI-centric content rather than those produced using AI tools.