Business Tech: Instagram issues updates to improve video functions

Bahar Ferguson 

The world of social media has changed drastically since the inception of Facebook. We have gone from statuses to image sharing to 24-hour disappearing stories, and now we are seeing the rise of video content on platforms that have previously been static. The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, recently gave us an update about Instagram’s efforts to improve some functions, primarily video, on its platform.

Merging Videos and Reels

The first announcement Mosseri made on future Instagram updates was the videos/reels merge. This means that Instagram’s classic short-form video function will now be phased out and the Reels function will now be the only method of uploading video content to Instagram.

Reels was introduced just about two years ago, in August of 2020. Reels are short videos that are displayed full screen. Reels can be accessed from their tab on the Instagram home screen. From there, clips will auto-play based on AI-generated suggestions. Reels was designed as an answer to TikTok, which was at the time massively growing. As of the first quarter of 2022, TikTok has surpassed Instagram as the top downloaded app worldwide. At the time of its release, Instagram received some criticism for its mimicry.  Nonetheless, Reels has maintained some success and continued to improve.

Reel Templates

Speaking of improvements, Instagram is also adding template options to reels. Now, at the bottom of the camera on the reels tab, there will be templates.

Full-Screen Feed

There is a soft release of a full-screen feed that is being tested on select users’ Instagram feeds. The Reels-style full-screen feed has been popping up on some people’s feeds during this test run and has received some mixed reviews. In another update on July 26, Mosseri responded to these comments, clarifying that the full-screen feature was indeed a test, but admitting that the functionality was not yet good.

Instagram is dedicating energy and resources to this video-sharing project. With extra emphasis on the Reels function, it seems pretty clear, that Instagram is trying to maintain its position as a top competitor to TikTok in the short-form video hosting arena. Instagram probably is fighting to reclaim its throne on the top of the mobile-based social media industry.

But. There is Always a But …

Despite Instagram’s desire to switch to a TikTok-style feed, many Instagram users, from influencers to creators to celebrities, are pushing back. As a result of this criticism, Mosseri’s July 26 update took a much more conciliatory tone than his previous one. Instagram received serious criticism from some of its most high-profile users following the update. On July 25, influencer and makeup mogul Kylie Jenner posted the following on her Instagram story:

“Make Instagram Instagram Again. Stop trying to be TikTok. I just want to see cute photos of my friends. Sincerely, Everyone.”

The text was later shared by Kylie’s sister, Kim Kardashian, the model, reality TV star, shape-wear designer and law student.

With the heat coming from such high places, Mosseri had to say something. Mosseri argues that the shift to video is essentially out of their hands. In his July 26 update, Mosseri said, “I do believe that more and more of Instagram is going to become video over time. We see this even if we change nothing. We see this even if you just look at [the] chronological feed. If you look at what people share on Instagram that’s shifting more and more to video over time … so we’re going to have to lean into that shift.”

This is not the first time that Instagram has hedged its success on blatant copies of competitors’ models. In 2016 Instagram introduced stories, which were, by the admission of Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, a copy of Snapchat’s highly successful feature that debuted in 2013. The thing is, Instagram’s obvious re-creation of Snapchat’s feature worked.

Despite ample criticism from users and tech journalists, Instagram stories became more popular than Snapchat stories in terms of the number of users and is a feature used by the majority of users on the platform.

Will copying another platform and Frankensteining it into the existing Instagram platform work again? This seems a difficult call to make. For one, TikTok is larger than Instagram at this point. Of course, Instagram’s parent company, Meta (formerly Facebook) still has greater influence, but its power and reputation seem to be on the decline. Where Facebook was almost a rite of passage when you got access to a phone, the younger generation is gravitating towards TikTok and not signing up for Facebook. For Instagram now it isn’t a matter of losing users, it’s a matter of not even gaining them to begin with.

The subtext here is that Reels-style content, despite how unpopular it might be with old users, gives Instagram what it needs to become relevant to up-and- coming social users. Analytics suggests that the amount of time spent on Instagram has increased since the introduction of Reels. All of these social media apps are fighting for the same thing — users’ attention. These short videos do an excellent job of drawing that attention.

Bahar Ferguson is the president of Wasatch I.T., a Utah-based IT company for small and mid-sized businesses.