This week I needed to cover the recent Build Your Tribe podcast interview where Brock Johnson interviewed Adam Mosseri. Many people are calling this the most revealing Instagram interview ever, with Mosseri sharing more about how the platform works than he has in any previous conversation.

As a podcast producer myself, I was genuinely impressed by Brock's interviewing skills. He asked precise, thoughtful questions that extracted valuable insights - something surprisingly rare in tech interviews. Let’s dive into this.

ALGORITHM

Instagram's Three Top Priorities

Mosseri clearly outlined Instagram's main priorities:

1. Valuing original content

2. Helping small creators breakthrough

3. Accelerating trend cycles

The Reach Distribution Shift

A key change many creators have noticed is increased "disconnected" or "unconnected" reach - content being shown to non-followers. Brock specifically questioned what motivated this shift, and Mosseri confirmed it was a deliberate adjustment to Instagram's distribution strategy.

This explains why some accounts with modest follower counts are seeing unexpectedly high exposure - Instagram is intentionally pushing content beyond established audience circles.

Instagram's YouTube-Like Distribution Model

Instagram is now deliberately mimicking YouTube's content distribution approach. On YouTube, most viewers of any channel's videos are non-subscribers - a feature that has made YouTube particularly effective for audience growth and business building.

Instagram has started implementing this same model. When examining your analytics, increased "non-connected followers" indicate your content is starting to gain traction beyond your existing audience.

Understanding "Algorithmic Jail" vs. When You’re Starting to Cook

Content performance typically falls into distinct ranges:

• Starting to Cook: 700-2,000 views consistently, with occasional viral spikes. This range typically shows higher percentages of non-follower reach.

• Algorithmic Jail: Inconsistent performance where content primarily reaches only existing followers (around 300 or so). This usually indicates Instagram's algorithm can't effectively categorize your content.

Importantly, when content remains in "algorithmic jail," it's typically due to inconsistent signals from the creator, not a platform penalty. Your content needs to provide clear indicators about its category and audience for proper distribution.

SHARING

DMs

Mosseri mentioned an interesting point - there are actually more photos and videos shared in DMs than in Stories (not including text messages). This gives us some helpful context about how content moves around the platform.

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