Instagram’s comment ranking, in plain English

Replies now count for more than likes in the first hour of a post’s life. That single change makes the ten minutes after you publish the most valuable ten minutes of your week.

Practically: end your caption with a question a stranger can answer in four words, then sit in the comments and reply properly — not with an emoji. Two real conversations beat two hundred passive likes.

We tested it across six hospitality accounts for three weeks. Posts we replied to within ten minutes reached roughly 40% more accounts than the ones we left alone. Same content, same time of day.