Instagram has confirmed that it’s testing a brand new strategy to its UI, with customers in India now capable of open the app direct to the Reels feed, versus the standard feed put up show.
As you may see on this instance, the up to date UI appears acquainted, however will concentrate on Reels particularly. Tapping on that first put up will develop 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, to be able 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 progress at Instagram over the previous few years, so we’re exploring making them the primary two tabs. That is simply an possibility out there to a small group of individuals in India beginning as we speak. Images from accounts you observe are nonetheless within the residence tab.”
So it’s not a full-on reformation of the app right into a TikTok clone. Nevertheless it’s sort of shut.
Which is smart. As Mosseri notes, Reels are the place IG customers are actually spending their time, with Meta just 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 primary feed like they used to, whereas Reels drives extra consideration, and extra engagement. And as such, based mostly on the information alone, it is smart for Instagram to place extra emphasis on this factor, and current Reels entrance and middle to assist drive curiosity.
Instagram’s just lately launched iPad app additionally opens to Reels direct, and it appears inevitable that, at some stage, Instagram will a minimum of 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 harass some customers. However once more, the information reveals that that is probably one of the simplest ways to go, based mostly on engagement traits, and driving retention and curiosity.
After all, customers would additionally favor much less algorithmic intervention, and a purely chronological feed. Or a minimum of they are saying they’d, although on that entrance, the information reveals that engagement rises when algorithms are utilized to focus on essentially the most related content material to every consumer.
So, principally, Instagram is following the information, and can proceed to take action in its growth choices.
Which probably 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.
