Instagram Insights: a short list of numbers to check each week

Insights has more tabs than most people have time for. A short weekly look is easier to keep up than a long monthly one, and that is our suggestion, not Instagram's.

What follows is what Instagram's Help Centre says each number means, so you know what you are actually looking at. We found no official benchmark for what counts as a good figure, so we do not give one.

What does the Insights overview show?

Instagram's Help Centre says: "From the Instagram app, you can see an insights overview that includes Views, Interactions, New followers and Content you shared."

It also says free insights are for public accounts: "If you have a public account on Instagram, you can use free insights". The overview looks at a window of "within the past 90 days".

What is the difference between Views and Viewers?

Views is defined as "The number of times that your content was played or displayed. Content includes reels, posts, stories, live videos and ads." It counts showings.

Viewers is defined as "The number of unique accounts that have seen your content on screen at least once". It counts people. The Help Centre states the difference: "Viewers is different from views, which may include multiple views of your reel by the same accounts."

Instagram marks these figures as provisional: "These metrics are estimated and in development."

Which reel numbers describe watching?

The reel insights page defines the watching numbers. "Views: the number of times your reel starts to play or replay." And "Watch time: The total amount of time that your reel was played for, including any time spent replaying the reel."

The page also gives an average: "The average amount of time spent playing your reel. This is calculated by the watch time divided by the number of initial views."

For growth, it defines follows: "Follows: this is how many accounts started following you as a result of viewing your reel."

Interactions cover the rest. The overview describes them as "the number of actions that people take when they engage with your content, such as likes, comments, saves and shares."

• Views: how often it played.
• Viewers: how many accounts saw it.
• Average watch time: how long it held people.
• Follows: how many accounts followed after watching.
• Interactions: likes, comments, saves and shares.

We did not find a definition for skip rate or bio link taps in these pages, so we have not included them.

How far back can you look?

Reels: Instagram says insights are available for reels posted on and after 14 May 2021, and for up to two years. Posts: insights are available "for up to two years". Stories: "Although stories expire after 24 hours, you can still access insights for up to two years after they're created."

The overview itself, though, covers "within the past 90 days". For older content, look at the single post or reel.

One condition for follower trends: the Help Centre says you can "View trends across your followers when you have at least 100 followers."

Questions people ask