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Welcome back to the Weekly scroll with Call Her Creator. This is the episode where you don't have to live on social media to understand what's actually changing. I scroll so you don't have to. And every week I pull the updates that actually matter. I cut through the noise and I tell you exactly what they mean for your growth, your content and your strategy. No headlines, no panic posting, no overreaction to every new feature, just what's relevant, what's shifting, and what you should actually do next. The Weekly scroll is brought to you by Club Influence, my all in one monthly membership for creators who want to grow on Instagram without spending hours researching trends inside. We handpick viral reels, ideas, content prompts and canva templates every single week so you can focus on creating, posting and building real momentum instead of chasing the algorithm. And just a quick heads up before we dive in. Our friends over at Stan are hosting a massive giveaway right now, and this one is truly different. One creator is going to receive a hundred, hundred thousand dollars, essentially a full year of living expenses so they can go all in on the business of their dreams. Five additional winners are also going to receive $10,000 to support their next chapter. Entries are open now and they close January 31st. If you've been waiting for a sign to finally bet on yourself in 2026, this is it. The link to enter is in my show notes. All right, let's get into the biggest shifts happening on social this week. The first update we've got is from Meta. Meta just released a breakdown of how they're improving reels recommendations, and the big change is this. They're no longer relying on passive signals like likes or watch time or shares. They're now heavily weighting direct user feedback. What? You know, like those in between prompts that ask things like, did you enjoy this reel? Was this relevant to you? How did this make you feel? Yeah, Meta has rolled those surveys out at scale and it's feeding that data directly into the algorithm. So in other words, they're moving beyond guessing interest based behavior and, and instead using like real time human feedback to understand what people actually want to see. And according to Meta, it's working. Before these surveys, their recommendation system only aligned with true user interest about like 48% of the time. That's less than half. But after integrating survey feedback, that number has jumped to over 70%. And that's pretty massive improvement if you ask me. So why should we care about this update? Well, this confirms something that I've been saying for a While reels are no longer being judged by what people do, but how content makes people feel. Because guess what? The algorithm is paying closer attention to these things. Enjoyment, relevance, emotional response. So not just whether someone watched for three seconds or they tapped that like button, but this means content that sparks a real clear reaction is becoming more valuable than content that's just scrollable or pretty. It also means that meta is trying to close that gap with TikTok. This is all I read whenever I was reading this. All I thought was, oh, TikTok, TikTok. So TikTok still leads because it has much deeper visual recognition, entity recognition. It understands what's in a video at a very granular level, from faces to backgrounds to physical traits. And it uses that to hyper personalized feeds. Nobody can crack the code of TikTok's algorithm, but meta is just not there yet. Instead, meta is compensating by asking users directly what they want and using that feedback to refine who sees what. So for creators, this is good news because it rewards clarity, intention, connection, not perfection. My only thing is, whenever I get these surveys, I don't pay attention. Like I'm just trying to click them off of my screen. So I'm not always giving it an accurate answer to whatever question it's asking. Asking some takeaways for this update. So first you should be creating reels that make people feel something clearly, right? Not vaguely, not aesthetically, not passively. One of the biggest things I go back and forth with on girls is like hooks, because if they're too passive, I'm making them rewrite them. We're rewriting hooks so that they really call a specific person out. So get as niche as possible, get as specific as possible when it comes to your hook, because that's what's gonna reel people right in. The algorithm is also actively learning these three things. Did this feel relevant to the to the viewer? Did this feel enjoyable? Did this feel worth seeing more of? So if your content is neutral, if it's forgettable or overly polished, no point of view, it's much easier for the system to just classify it as low interest. So a couple things here. One, make the point super obvious. If someone can't tell what your reel is about within the first few seconds, the algorithm and the viewer will struggle to categorize it it as relevant. So you gotta be very clear, very specific. Say the thing next. Aim for a reaction, not just reach. So ask yourself, like, will someone save this? Will someone send it in the dms? Will someone disagree with me? Will Someone feel seen, we want them to trigger some kind of emotional response, whether that's commenting or sending it to someone or something, we want them to take some kind of action. Right? We've always wanted that, but now it's even more important. Number three here is stop chasing safe content. Right? So safe content just blends in. And we already talked about how AI is taking over, and AI is pretty safe content, if you ask me. Everything is prim and proper and surface or perfect. Not with us humans. So blended content is what's gonna get neutral feedback, right? So neutral feedback tells the algorithm that you're real, is not worth prioritizing. And we also wanna lean into recognizable patterns, consistently respond positively to a certain topic or a tone or a format that you keep posting, then you need to repeat it. The algorithm is learning preferences faster, which means patterns are going to compound more quickly than they ever have before. So make sure you are going back and you are seeing what is working and you are looking for the pattern on why it worked. That is like the number one thing. I'm actually doing an entire podcast episode on this next week for you guys to understand what's working and what's not and what patterns you should be looking for. That is how you're going to stand out on this app. So bottom line here is meta is telling us, without directly saying it, that the future of reels is not about hacking the algorithm. It's just about creating content that people actually enjoy. People recognize themselves in and they want more of it. And when you do that consistently, the algorithm is finally going to get better at backing you up. All right, update number two. Instagram just rolled out its first edits app update of 2026. And this one is less about flashy features and it's more about, like, keeping creators inside the ecosystem longer. Right. So the biggest update is that you can now add Instagram links directly inside clips created and edits. So these links can point to other reels or other Instagram accounts. So, no, you're not going to be able to link your website. I did see somebody giving an update on this edits update, and they're like, you can link real or you can link inside of your reels. And it kind of was lying to people, like saying you can link to websites and stuff. And. No, that's not it. But you can link other reels, you can link other Instagram accounts. So if you're building up like your secondary account, like call her creator versus be Kaitlyn Rhodes, you better believe I'm going to be Linking those two Instagram accounts in my reels. And then I've also already tested linking other reels, like when I'm doing a similar like content series or something that relates or maybe they needed context from my first reel. I'm linking it for them so that they can go back. So when you export your video from edits to Instagram, those links are going to carry over automatically. So on top of that, love this too. Edits is now also including weekly content ideas and these are generated based on the reels that you've already posted. So they're, they should connect with you. They should be similar. 25 new video effects fisheye Bounce Blackout Love, love the fisheye. Am I gonna be using it? No, but I love that they gave it to us. Storyboard upgrades. I don't use these on edits, but I know some people do. But this is going to let you add multiple takes of the same clip so you can compare and choose the best one. So Instagram is clearly positioning edits as a full creator hub, not just an editing tool. If you are not using it, use it. Because I really do guarantee that they're going to start charging people for it. I don't know. I just see that being a thing this year. So this update tells us exactly what Instagram wants creators to do in 2026. They want more cross promot inside of the platform. They want more creator to creator discovery. They want more time spent creating and iterating inside of their tools. And I think by allowing internal IG links and videos, Instagram is encouraging collaborations. It's encouraging content change, it's referencing older posts. It's driving viewers deeper into your profile. This is intentional, guys. This isn't just like, oh, we thought maybe we'd make the app better this way. Like no, they are thinking of all the ways to keep you on their platform. So the weekly idea prompts are also important. They're not just like inspiration, but they're signals. Instagram is showing you the types of reels it thinks aligns with your past performance and audience behavior. So that's data disguised as ideas. And you know, we love data around here. All right, what you can do with this one, obviously use internal links strategically, not randomly. Maybe link a follow up reel or a related topic or collaborate with somebody else's account. Think of it as building like a mini content ecosystem. Instead of one off post number two, use links to extend watch time, not just the exposure. Here if someone watches one reel and taps into another, that's deeper session behavior. And Instagram loves that. This is especially powerful for series content, education based creators, storytelling arcs. All of these can interlink with each other and keep people on your profile and in your content longer. And then I want you to treat these weekly ideas as feedback, not just marching orders. But why is Instagram recommending this format? What patterns is it recognizing in my content? This is data, guys, data. And then lastly, just be careful with the effects. Like, I know they're fine, but just because you add an effect to a video does not mean engagement. In fact, some of them can, like distract the video or just make it look, I don't know, overly edited. So just be intentional with the editing effects that you're using. Big picture here is Instagram's not just competing with TikTok on virality anymore, it's competing with creator workflow. All right, All right, next update. Instagram has officially rolled out its your algorithm control option to all English speaking users worldwide. So this feature lets users manually influence their reels feed by adding or removing topics of interest, viewing examples of what content fits into each topic, selecting three top interests to guide their Reels experience. For 2026, you can access it by tapping the slider icon in the top right corner of your reels feed. In simple terms, Instagram is giving users the ability to tell the algorithm what they want more of, right? So instead of relying entirely on passive behavior like the watch time the likes, you're going to be able to tell Instagram what you want. This feature was being tested quietly last year, but now it's live at scale. So why does this matter? For creators, this is one of the clearest signals yet that Instagram is shifting from a fully opaque algorithm to a preference informed algorithm. And here's the key distinction here. The algorithm is still doing the heavy lifting, but users now have the ability to reinforce their interest intentionally. So most people won't actively manage this, and history tells us that. But the existence of this feature still changes how content gets categorized and reinforced, right? So Instagram is essentially saying, like, we want people to feel like their feed reflects their interest, not just what keeps them scrolling. And that matters because one, it prioritizes topic clarity, two, it rewards consistent themes, and three, it benefits creators who are clearly associated with the specific subjects. So if your content is vague or it's scattered, or you're trying to appeal to everyone, it's harder for these systems to place your content into an interest bucket. So you can't just be like throwing spaghetti at a wall every single week. Like, oh, I think this idea will go viral, but it has nothing to do with my business. Like, cool, you might gain some followers, but you are going to confuse the heck out of the algorithm and it's not going to do good for business. So we don't want you focusing on virality, guys. We want you focusing on what provides value to your perfect audience. There's a big psychological layer here. This feature gives users a sense of control, right? So even if they don't use it daily, it builds that trust in the platform and reduces algorithm fatigue so people feel less manipulated and more intentional about what they consume. And that's really good for retention. And retention is what platforms optimize for long term. So there's a couple different things you can take from this one topic clarity matters more than ever. So if someone selects business content creation fitness as their top interest, Instagram is more likely to reinforce creators who are clearly aligned with those topics. So your content needs to be obvious in what category it belongs to. Two, this does not mean you should niche harder in a more restrictive way. It just means that your audience should be able to describe what you talk about in one sentence. Clear doesn't mean boring, it just means recognizable. And you should assume that your content is being categorized more deliberately. I've noticed if you. Well one, I've talked about this topic before. AI is giving us post summaries on what your post is about, right? So if you're not being very specific with what your content is about, you could get like you, you could get categorized in topics that you don't want to get categorized categorized in. So for example, like if you post a really good educational reel, talking about, you know, like, I don't know, social media marketing, but your caption is like two words and then it's just like a strong CTA to get people to buy your guide or something, AI is going to see those, AI is going to see that really short caption and that's how it's going to write what your post is about. Like, I've already seen it happen with my own content and I am a, you know, Instagram expert. I am very clear about what I talk about with my content and my content buckets. I am very clear with my hooks, my text on screen. So for someone like me to even be having some issues with how Instagram categorizes my content, like, it's just very important that you are specific with your content between these topic controls, user surveys, AI recognition, Instagram is trying to build a clear understanding of what your content is and who it's for. So you have to help it out. So just say the thing that you want to say, name the topic, make the point extremely obvious, and then, you know, lastly, this reinforces why engagement quality matters. Right now, if someone manually selects an interest and then consistently engages with your content, that's a very strong signal for the algorithm, which is why intentional engagement strategies still work so well in 2026. The bottom line here, Instagram isn't giving users full control of their algorithm, but it is giving them a louder voice and creators who are clear, they're consistent, they're intentional about what they talk about, they're going to benefit the most from that shift. This is less about gaming the algorithm and more about making sure both the system and the human on the other side knows exactly why your content belongs in their feed. Right? So I don't know. I love these updates. I think they're very important. This shifts. Another, you know, thing for, for marketing in 2026 is like we have to be intentional about our content, but we also have to be smart and we have to understand how things work. And that's why I made Social Media School. Social Media School is my course. Like you can either get it all done in a couple hours or you can take it week by week. I've. When you get into social media school, I've set it up to where you go like four to six weeks through the course slowly so that you understand things and I'll walk you through like optimizing your profile, what content pillars you should have in place, how you should be studying your analytics. Oh, here's the type of call to actions you should be using. Hey, here's the psychology around sales. Like you need to understand all of this. Now's the time to get in there and learn about social media marketing, Instagram specifically. If you're like me and you have a service based business or a product based business and you know exactly what you're selling. My favorite app is Instagram, but I will also in there talk about Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, LinkedIn, like all the things. So you're not just like honed in or pigeonholed to one social media platform. You're going to learn about them all inside of social media school. And so yes, I think it's super duper important for you guys to consider for 2026. All right, that is your updates this week. I hope you liked them. If you have any questions, please feel free to send me a DM over on call her creator or the Kaitlyn Rhodes. I'M on both of them. And I will see you next week. We are doing a huge episode on analyzing your content and what to do next after you've gone through my 28 day engagement challenge. This is a challenge that you go in and you basically, like, force your Instagram into growth mode and you're doing, like day to day tasks, but then you get to the end of the 28 days. What's next? We'll talk about that next week on Call her Creator. Make sure you are following us so you get alerted when the next episode comes out. All right, thanks guys so much. I'll see you next time.