Instagram gave me a sneak peek of a new feature, so it’s a special Monday edition of Future Social! I love getting you Day 1 strategy guides for new social features (my Threads post from way back when remains the most read issue of the newsletter).
Let’s talk about Instagram dropping what’s maybe their most-requested feature and what it means for your work day.
—Jack Appleby
Instagram launches Reorder Grid: here’s what it means for brands
Credit to Instagram, man—they really do listen to their users & ship quite a few features based on what the people want. Today we get one that’s been requested for years that I honestly didn’t think would ever happen.
Instagram users will now be able to reorder their profile grids. You can move around your posts in any order your please, rearranging your posts on your profile to your heart’s desire.
The good folks at Meta gave me early access to the feature, so I’ve been playing on this end, working through some use cases for brands… and the most obvious use case… is actually… well, vibes.
How does Reorder Grid work?
It’s pretty simple, actually: just long-press any post on your profile until a menu pops up to “Reorder grid,” then arrange posts around in any order. If you have pinned posts or reels, they will remain fixed at the top of your grid.
It turns out your Instagram Grid still matters.
There's a growing line of thinking that followers matter less and less—that because For You Pages feed us an endless stream of content based on our interests, it’ll be harder (and less important) to drive followers and far more important to focus our efforts on great content.
At the core, I absolutely agree, great content over everything. But people do still visit your page. Profile Visits are a trackable metric on Instagram. Scrollers will curiously tap your handle and swing by your IG grid to see what you / your brand is up to.
We still want to convert those who visit our Brand Instagrams, and re-order grid allows us to optimize our profiles for the best chance at winning someone over.
So what's the strategy? Make it beautiful, on purpose.
So what should a brand optimize for, exactly? To me, you’re either pushing people to:
Buy some product from your profile
Watch more of your brand’s content
Hit the follow button to get more content
Reorder Grid is the first real tool that lets you deliberately shape the grid toward one of those outcomes instead of leaving it to whatever you happened to post most recently.
Do I feel a little crazy encouraging Instagram Grid Aesthetics in 2026? Yes, yes I do. But between Instagram now allowing both Custom Thumbnails on Reels + Reorder Grid, it’s worth making your grid pretty. It really isn’t just a vanity play.
A couple considerations for ya:
You need Custom Thumbnails for every post. It’s probably the easiest thing to forget now that we’re such feed-heavy scrollers, but make sure you’re thinking through both individual post thumbnails + the overall look & feel of your brand as a whole. You should have a design system or some rigor here.
Lead with your strongest visual work. Your best-looking, most representative posts go in the top rows. Note I didn’t say your most viral posts—those saw success in a scroll environment, not tap-to-watch. You’re placing the content that most speaks to who your brand is.
Throw your best-sellers up top. If your brand has a signature item, get it on your grid above the fold. We want anyone who clicked from your brand content over to your profile to see the product they’re most likely to buy!
Balance the grid so it reads as intentional. This is an eyeball test, and really speaks to your Thumbnail strategy more than anything. A grid that looks composed signals a brand that has its act together.
Notice what's not on this list: I'm not telling you to merchandise your grid like a storefront shelf or run some elaborate conversion funnel through it. Reorder doesn't change what gets distributed, it changes what a visitor sees when they arrive. The whole game is making the profile look good enough, intentional enough, that someone buys or follows.
What I am absolutely not saying
Good god, if I see even one of you try one of those ~grid approaches~ where you make every single thumbnail fit to make one big image, I will scream.
How will you use the feature? You can reply right to this email, would love to hear from ya.