Instagram Your Algorithm in Feed, Reels and Explore: topic labels

Instagram's Your Algorithm lets people see and change the topics behind what they are shown. It started in Reels, reached Explore on April 15, 2026, and on June 10, 2026 Instagram said it is live across Feed, Reels and Explore. Posts now carry a label such as From Running or From Street Style, which a viewer can tap to adjust that interest.

Source: Instagram's announcement page, read 2026-10-02.

Timeline of the feature

The page says availability is global in English.

What this changes for a Reel

Viewers can now push a topic up or down with one tap on a label. A Reel that clearly belongs to one topic has a better chance of being matched to someone who chose it. That is an inference, not a promise: the announcement page I read does not describe how a given post is assigned a topic.

What you can control is how plainly the Reel states its subject, in the first seconds, in the spoken words and in the on-screen text.

A check you can run with Sume

Video inspect returns probe facts and stills for one clip on media.sume.com, eight mid-bin stills by default. With transcribe: true it also returns the transcript, billed at $0.01 per audio minute in the docs. Read the first stills and the first sentences. If a running Reel never says running, the label has little to work with.

Inspect does not tell you which topic Instagram will assign. It only shows what your file says.

Keep it honest

Three habits that hold up.

• Name the topic in the first line of speech and in the first on-screen text.
• Do not stuff unrelated topics to chase labels. Viewers can mute a topic.
• Re-check the page: Instagram has extended this feature three times in six months.