Had Enough of Random Posts on Instagram? Here’s How to Actually See the People You Follow Again

Tania Pryer
Feb 11
3 min read

If you’ve opened Instagram and thought “who on earth are these people and why are they in my feed?”… you’re not alone.

A lot of users (and business owners especially) are getting frustrated with Instagram. You log in hoping to see your friends, favourite creators, and small businesses you chose to follow… and instead you get:

suggested posts
recommended accounts
content from strangers
and ads. So. Many. Ads.

It feels less like your feed and more like Instagram has taken over the remote control. But here’s the thing — Instagram quietly added a feature that gives you your feed back. And hardly anyone seems to know it exists.

I genuinely show this to clients, and they look at me like I’ve just performed a magic trick.

The Simple Instagram Trick (No Settings Needed)

You don’t need to change any complicated settings or mess around with your account.

Just do this:

Open Instagram and go to your home feed (the house icon in the bottom left).
Look at the very top of the screen — you’ll see the word Instagram (the logo).
Tap it.

A little drop-down menu appears.

You’ll see two options:

Following

Favourites

Tap Following. That’s it. Your feed will now show:

posts
reels
carousels

ONLY from the people you follow.

And even better? It shows them in chronological order. No suggested posts. No random accounts. And very few ads. Basically… Instagram how it used to be.

Why This Matters (Especially for Small Businesses)

Right now, one of the biggest worries I hear from business owners is:

“No one is seeing my posts anymore.”

Sometimes that’s true. But often it isn’t because your content is bad — it’s because Instagram isn’t showing your content to people who already follow you.

The default feed is algorithm-based. Instagram decides what people see first, not the person using it.

The Following feed changes that. If someone switches to it, they will actually see the accounts they chose to follow — including yours. Which means consistency suddenly matters again.

Want to Prioritise Certain Accounts? Use Favourites

You can also create a smaller, VIP-style feed.

Go to someone’s profile → tap Following under their bio → select Add to favourites.

Then:

Home page → tap the Instagram logo → choose Favourites

Now Instagram will only show posts from those selected accounts.

People often use this for:

close friends
favourite creators
local businesses they genuinely support

(Which, by the way, is great news for small businesses.)

Why People Are Starting to Use This More

Users are getting tired of Instagram feeling like an advert platform rather than a social one.

They don’t want to scroll past 10 sponsored posts before seeing someone they actually know.

The Following feed fixes that:

less noise
less advertising
more real content

And as more users discover it, businesses that post consistently and provide value benefit massively.

What This Means For You

If you’re a business owner, here’s the key takeaway: People do want to see business content — just not random content. When someone follows you, they’re actively choosing to hear from you. The Following feed lets them actually do that.

So the goal isn’t to “beat the algorithm”. It’s to show up regularly with useful, interesting, human content so when someone switches to Following… you’re there.

Still Feel Like Instagram Is Overwhelming?

Completely fair.

Knowing what to post, when to post, and how to stay visible while running a business is a lot. Social media looks easy until you’re the one responsible for it every week.

That’s literally where I come in.

I help small businesses with: