💻 [OBO DIGEST] Home, Following, Favorites, & Quitting Resolutions

Instagram’s new chronological feed, how to set better goals, why you need to update your passwords, and more…

Written by: Online Business Owner • January 10, 2022

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Happy New Year!

We’re hoping your January is off to a great start. If it’s not, never fear, January is just a social construct! There’s no rush or pressure to do anything this year that you didn’t get done last year (with the exception of your taxes…sorry but you do need to do those). 

Real quick: we’re conducting a survey of our subscribers to help us create even better content for you in 2022. Can you go here to complete this quick (less than 4 minute) survey? After you finish it you’ll be invited to enter to win a $100 Amazon gift card! Thank you!

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News + Happenings

Here’s the 411 on Instagram’s “Chronological” Feed

Image Source: Instagram

New Year. New Instagram Feed? Kinda! Possibly! That’s the goal, says Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri. 

"We think it's important that you get to a chronological feed if you're interested, quickly, and see the latest that has been posted by the accounts that you follow," Mosseri said in an announcement last week about changes to Instagram

As we reported in December, Instagram is making changes to the feed experience this year. As we also reported last year, this probably has less to do with Instagram users’ opinions and MORE to do with Instagram covering their a$$ to avoid crackdowns under Section 230 here in the U.S.

Putting our tin foil hats to the side (as we theorize on the root of Instagram’s feed changes), here is what you need to know about Instagram’s new feed…

• The changes are in testing now with users around the world. We don’t fully know who or where they are testing the new experience.

• Mosseri says the goal is to roll this out to all users in the first half of 2022 (so it may be a while before you see a change on your app).

• The update will create 3 feed views: Home, Following, and Favorites.

• Home will continue being the IG experience we know (and sometimes loathe…) today – an algorithmic feed with recommended content mixed in with content shared by creators you follow.

• Following will be the chronological view that many users have been begging Instagram for for years – it will present content from those that you follow in the order it is posted.

• Lastly, Favorites will introduce a new feature that allows users to add accounts to a list of favorites and see their content in one dedicated feed.

In his announcement, Mosseri did use lots of phrases like “we hope” and “the plan is” – that means this could all change or shift in timeline, feature name, and actual feature delivery. Only time will tell.

While it’s exciting to think of this Instagram update, it’s important to note that the new feed view can’t be set to your preferred view – each time you open the app you’ll be taken to the traditional Home feed and will need to switch your view to either Follower or Favorites.

Something else to watch out for this year is what this means for the regular Instagram Home feed. Could Instagram make changes to the Home feed that rely more heavily on their algorithm and content suggestions, elevating recommended content over posts from those you follow (since you can simply switch your feed view to see that content in one place)? Does this mean more Reels in the Home feed or even more of a shift away from the traditional post-based feed we’ve grown accustomed to on Instagram? We’ll let you know when we do!

Why this matters for online business —

Once the new feed views are available, it may make sense for you to encourage your followers to add your account(s) to their Favorites list so they can see your content when they switch to that view. The reintroduction of a chronological feed also means that posting MORE often on Instagram could be an important strategy for remaining closer to the top of the feed (taking us back to the IG days of old when users would post 3-5 times each day).

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It’s Okay to Abandon Your Resolutions (Or Not Have Any At All)

Image Source: (www.unsplash.com/@drewcoffman)

A new year brings along a whole host of expectations for individuals and entrepreneurs alike – from creating resolutions to deciding on a “word of the year” (the latest trend for trying to encapsulate what an entire year should mean) to setting income and revenue goals for your business.

But what if you abandoned those big ambitious goals and resolutions? Or didn’t create any at all?

First of all, you wouldn’t be alone. New Year’s resolutions are actually a terrible way to set goals and create plans. Mainly because less than 20 percent of people actually keep them. And because we’re still in a pandemic and living through all of the stress associated with massive global trauma.

Stress and trauma are not great for your brain when it comes to changing your behavior, setting goals, or working to achieve a lofty ambition.

There’s also the risk of experiencing “change saturation” meaning, “you’ve had to make so many transitions, you just can’t make any more” writes Tracy Brower for Fast Company. 

“According to research published in Molecular Psychiatry, when you go through prolonged challenging times (and the pandemic certainly qualifies), chronic stress can change the architecture of your brain and make you feel worn out, anxious, fearful, or depressed. These aren’t the best conditions for making major changes” writes Brower.

So, what do you do instead, Brower goes on to share some recommendations for navigating goals and resolutions…

• Dream on a Smaller Scale – take a less-is-more approach, cultivate gratitude, avoid perfectionism, and make a list that you then edit down to 3 main goals.

• Monitor Yourself – create routines and conveniences and plan ahead.

• Find Support – find friends or accountability and use apps and technology thoughtfully.

You can read more about goal setting and resolutions in our modern world in Brower’s piece “Why Abandoning An Ambitious Resolution This Year Is Completely Alright.”

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If Your Password is ‘password’ It’s Time to Make a Change

Image Source: (www.unsplash.com/@moneyphotos)

Nordpass is out with their Top 200 Most Common Passwords report for 2021 and the reminder that ‘12345’ and ‘qwerty’ aren’t the best choice for keeping your business and personal documents and accounts safe. Their research shows that passwords like ‘123456789’, the word ‘password,’ and user’s names are extremely common and put users at risk of hacks and breaches.

Here are their password hygiene basics to help ensure account security…

1. Use complex passwords – at least 12 characters in length and a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols.

2. Never reuse passwords – it’s too easy for a hacker when you use the same password for everything.

3. Regularly update passwords – security experts recommend every 90 days.

4. Check password strength – you want to avoid passwords that have repetitive numbers or characters or are easy to solve.

5. Use a password manager – this allows you to securely store and access your passwords.
   

Why this matters for online business

While you may think hacks and holding data hostage are issues for governments and Fortune 500 companies, cyber attacks are common for small businesses and many don’t have a plan for how to deal with an attack. Even scarier is the fact that 60 percent of small companies go out of business within six months of falling victim to a data breach or cyber attack. One of the simplest and easiest ways to protect yourself is through strong passwords.

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Social Media News + Updates

📸  Instagram’s CEO outlines the app’s key areas of focus for 2022

📸  Paid badges are now on by default for all creators using Instagram Live

👥  Facebook updates Creator Studio: adds Stories Highlights and a new timeline content view

👥  Facebook launches a new ‘Privacy Center’ to give users more control over their data

📌  Pinterest adds a ‘Profiles’ tab to search to help creators gain more in-app traffic and exposure

🔗  LinkedIn launches test of Clubhouse ripoff “Audio Rooms” along with new format for live events

👂  Clubhouse adds “re-share” option to help users share and find live conversations in the app

⏰ TikTok leads Christmas day as most downloaded app in the world

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In Other News

💯  Here are 100 ways to slightly improve your life without really trying. The Guardian 

✍️  Digital whiteboard app Miro raises $400M in Series C, hits $17.5B valuation. Protocol

🗓️ An inside look at how the 4 day work week (4DWW) is going for InDebted. Fast Company

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About The Contributor

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