Instagram has confirmed that it’s testing a brand new strategy to its UI, with customers in India now in a position to open the app direct to the Reels feed, versus the normal feed publish show.
As you may see on this instance, the up to date UI appears to be like acquainted, however will give attention to Reels particularly. Tapping on that first publish will increase the Reels view to the full-screen, scrollable Reels show.
Final week, Bloomberg reported that IG was testing this up to date variation in some markets, with a view to put extra emphasis on Reels engagement.
And now, Instagram chief Adam Mosseri has shared some extra perception into the experiment:
“Reels and DMs have pushed most all our development at Instagram over the previous few years, so we’re exploring making them the primary two tabs. That is simply an choice obtainable to a small group of individuals in India beginning right now. Photographs from accounts you observe are nonetheless within the dwelling tab.”
So it’s not a full-on reformation of the app right into a TikTok clone. But it surely’s form of shut.
Which is sensible. As Mosseri notes, Reels are the place IG customers at the moment are spending their time, with Meta lately reporting that total video watch time on IG is up 20% year-over-year. Meta has additionally reported that Reels now make up 50% of all time spent within the app.
Individuals simply aren’t posting to the principle feed like they used to, whereas Reels drives extra consideration, and extra engagement. And as such, based mostly on the info alone, it is sensible for Instagram to place extra emphasis on this aspect, and current Reels entrance and heart to assist drive curiosity.
Instagram’s lately launched iPad app additionally opens to Reels direct, and it appears inevitable that, at some stage, Instagram will at the least let extra customers choose into seeing Reels up entrance, as an alternative of static picture updates.
Which is a serious shift away from IG’s roots, and that’s undoubtedly going to bother some customers. However once more, the info exhibits that that is seemingly one of the best ways to go, based mostly on engagement traits, and driving retention and curiosity.
After all, customers would additionally desire much less algorithmic intervention, and a purely chronological feed. Or at the least they are saying they’d, although on that entrance, the info exhibits that engagement rises when algorithms are utilized to spotlight probably the most related content material to every person.
So, mainly, Instagram is following the info, and can proceed to take action in its improvement choices.
Which seemingly means you’re by no means getting your chronological feed again, however Reels are set to get extra focus.
Mosseri additionally notes that the feed experiment in India is choose in, and uers can revert again to the unique expertise each time they select.
