Instagram is undergoing a transformation and now focusing on entertainment and video sharing. Short form video has now become the source of content that is capturing the most viewing minutes. This trend was started in large part by TikTok (formerly Musical.ly) and has since taken off. The massive number of downloads and the level of engagement TikTok has gained with its proprietary AI, makes it hard to ignore. TikTok which has since grown into a popular global social media platform.
As such, Instagram is pivoting away from its initial premise as being a place for sharing photos only. In response to this threat, they have launched Instagram Reels as a way to create and discover short videos on its namesake app (Instagram Reels – Share & Create Short Videos, n.d.). This is a social media platform completely driven by influencers and user generated content (UGC). The main advantage of using Instagram Reels is that it helps to create interesting videos in a very short time with little effort.
The idea behind Reels is to create content to be consumed on mobile. Vertical videos that run for a short period of time and deliver interesting snippets. Instagram has an older feature called IGTV, which has videos that last a minute or more and will continue to exist. Reels help create videos using clips, AR filters and of course – audio. These videos last about 30 seconds.
It brings together popular features such as timer based hands-free recording, remixing and a library of music and voice over audio. These changes are a logical evolution of the app that has been extremely successful with photo sharing. They are attempting to enable the next generation of buyers by engaging them in the content form they prefer.
However, this evolution has not been without its challenges. The changes debuted about two year ago and have since upset a lot of existing users (Jennings, 2020). Instagram has been a photo sharing app and successfully adopted by influencers and celebrities alike. Everyday users also liked how easily they were able to share their photos with friends. The new video based format has upended their usage and has nudged the company to make some changes. The app has subsequently rolled back or modified some of the new features. The root cause seems to be that users are now seeing content from people they don’t follow. While it is not exactly clear how the new algorithm works, it is certainly a departure from the recent past.
Despite the criticism, the company is pushing through its plans of redesigning the app and attracting a whole new generation of users. Long time content creators are seeing the benefit of this approach and tailoring their content. This is evidenced in some of the statistics published by these entities and certainly bodes well for the future of Reels.
References:
Instagram Reels – Share & Create Short Videos. (n.d.). About.instagram.com. https://about.instagram.com/features/reels
Jennings, R. (2020, August 18). Why does Instagram Reels suck so bad? Vox. https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2020/8/18/21372510/instagram-reels-bad