Instagram is really weird right now. I think I figured out why.

Let me describe to you a video I saw recently: there is a white-haired man – I guess he is about 65 years old – in glasses, wearing a white button-down shirt and a tie. He has a thick beard and moustache, with hairs that improbably point up into his nostrils. In the background, it appears to be in a fairly normal American living room. He holds the phone, stares at the camera and breathes heavily – audibly – for about 10 seconds. Don’t say anything during the entire video.

This man has only posted eight times on Instagram. He only has 37 followers. In no way does he appear to be a professional content creator or someone who intended his content to go viral – and yet the video of him taking a deep breath has over 10,000 views and over 400 comments. One of the comments at the top: “This has to kill my account. The algorithm is broken.”

Introducing the Mythical Reel Pull Instagram

Several other comments describe the man’s post as “Mythical attraction.” A “Mythical Reel Pull” (or, on TikTok, a “Mythical FYP Pull”) refers to when an algorithm delivers a strange and surprising video — something so strange that you can’t believe you’re seeing it, as if you be no ALLEGED to see him.

Lately, my Instagram Reels feed has been going crazy, full of these mythical pulls to the point where they’ve become rule rather than the exception. I think I have a theory why.

Sometime this spring, I started seeing more and more videos like this – weird stuff, stuff that seemed unintentional, from people who maybe didn’t expect their videos to go (minor) viral. Older people, boys in their mid-teens, people who look like they’re on drugs or sick, or people who talk about sex in a way that would make you want to move to the other side of the subway car. These people didn’t seem to be trying to be creative. Their videos weren’t polished or professional; they did not have many followers.

It seemed more like he happened to post a video on Instagram and my algorithm “pulled” it from the spinning wheel of content.

My first theory as to why this is happening? Stranger things float to the top because of a very specific and major change in the way Reels works.

In May, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said the app was trying to bring out smaller creators: “One of the changes we’re making to how the leaderboard works that we’re doing is going to try to amplify small creators, especially through referrals,” he said. in a video. “What we’re trying to do now is give every piece of content on Instagram a chance to be recommended to people who don’t follow you.”

In practical terms, this means that previously, a post would only have been shown to your followers first. If the post did well (getting above average likes/shares/comments) then it would enter the “recommendation” engine where it could go viral. That way, only the best performing content would explode, giving an advantage to big creators with huge followings.

Now every video can be recommended as soon as it is posted.

Meta says that the big change has not been brought to everyone

A Meta representative said that my theory about the new referral rule couldn’t be the correct explanation for why I’m seeing such strange things because the new rule hasn’t been implemented for everyone yet. But that doesn’t really make sense, as even a partial release could explain it. The spokesperson did not answer any other questions about why I might be seeing such strange things compared to TikTok, where my feed is more tailored to my interests, such as makeup, education or celebrities.

Changing Instagram’s recommendation engine would explain why I was shown a Reel that was simply a still photo of a steakhouse in Wyoming. It has had zero likes or shares and only 61 views (so far). This is probably great for the steakhouse, which wants new people to see their content (even if they don’t live in Wyoming). It’s probably great for small creators trying to get more exposure.

But it creates an awkward situation for people who don’t necessarily want — or might not even feel comfortable with — a sudden flood of strangers looking at their content.

There’s a wide middle ground of people who don’t want to make their Instagram private, but aren’t looking or expecting to attract the attention of strangers. Actually, I think that’s about most users.

Going viral or suddenly getting a lot of attention can be exciting, but it can also be quite an unpleasant experience. Posting what you think is a friendly video and getting a bunch of comments like “rolling at a level that scares even me” and “Pulling the godly drum” probably isn’t a great experience.

The old man staring blankly into the room I described earlier? He deleted the video. I reached out to him to ask about it, but haven’t heard back.

My second theory as to why I see more of this type of content on Reels instead of TikTok is a historical difference between the two apps. On TikTok, you expect to see videos from strangers, and you’d expect strangers to see yours. For a decade on Instagram, you mostly saw photos and videos from people you knew in real life — and you wouldn’t expect strangers to see your videos. Unless you’ve aggressively tagged your photos, it would be rare for a stranger to come across your posts, even on a public account.

But on Instagram, a person might just look at their friends’ posts or stories, then post a video and find themselves immersed in the world of the Reels algorithm.

It’s worth noting that the most frequent and loud complaint you’re likely to hear about this change in Instagram is from professional content creators who are suddenly annoyed that it’s harder to get the eyeballs they’ve been getting , either because they are now forced. to post videos on Reels instead of still images, or because the algorithm doesn’t seem to work like it used to.

What you don’t hear are people who didn’t really want strangers to see their stuff, suddenly upset that a bunch of strangers are now watching them. But I believe these people exist.

“Mythical Reel Pulls” are not always positive for posters

I know some of the people who post Mythical Reel Pulls don’t have a positive experience. I can say this because when I look at the comments of people who have been shown some of this random content, they are often not very nice.

I ended up seeing a lot of Reels videos from kids, specifically boys between the ages of 9 and 13, who technically aren’t allowed to have an Instagram account. These videos are often kind of creepy in an 11 year old trash talking Fortnite kind of way. And crinness brings really brutal comments.

It’s a common meme to comment “try fentanyl” on these kids’ videos. I see the comments “try fentanyl” or “this kid sold me fentanyl” so much that on one apparent kid’s account I saw he wrote “I’M NOT GONNA FENT FENT” in his bio.

(I’m trying to remember that the commenters are almost certainly probably teenagers themselves. Much of Mythical Pull’s realm feels very Reddit/4chan/gamer/teen. For some reason, which I’ve yet to find an explanation for, the comments Instagrams are much, much worse than TikTok comments.)

PE Moskowitz recently wrote about how the WTF-ness of Mythical Reel Pulls is kind of zen koan. And these weird videos with low views aren’t all just old people or kids. The phrase also extends to weird and wonderful things you just didn’t expect to find – getting to glimpse another slice of life for a few seconds. That’s the beauty and serendipity of social media’s utopian promise.

I suspect that whatever is happening with Reels at this point is some sort of aberration, a bump along the road to the Meta, smoothing out the rough edges of his plans. I’ll miss it when it’s gone.