Instagram is piloting a Reels-first experience on its mobile app with a limited number of users in India, as part of the Meta-owned platform's deeper push into short-form video content.
As part of the pilot, users who open Instagram will land directly in Reels, similar to the experience on the recently-launched iPad app. Direct messages will remain a swipe away in the navigation bar, while Stories will continue to appear at the top.
The app's navigation bar is also getting a redesign to place more prominence on Reels and direct messages (DM), two features the company says are fueling most of its growth.
What changes is Instagram planning for its app in the coming months?
Last week, Meta announced that Instagram has surpassed 3 billion monthly active users, making it the third app in the social networking giant’s suite of apps to reach this milestone after Facebook and WhatsApp. Instagram has over 400 million users in India, according to industry estimates.
“If you look at the last few years, almost all of our growth has been driven by DMs, Reels, and recommendations,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a video clip “Because of that, we’re going to continue to focus on those products and reorient the app more around DMs, Reels, and recommendations over the next couple of months.”
What about posts from accounts people follow?
Instagram will also feature a new Following tab, that will enable people to browse through posts from accounts they follow.
The tab will feature three sections: 'All, showing recommended posts and Reels from all followed accounts; 'Friends,' which will highlight recommended posts and Reels from accounts that follow the user back; and 'Latest,' which displays posts and Reels in chronological order, with the newest content appearing first.
India a key testing ground for Instagram
India has been a key market for Facebook-owned Instagram to test several of its features and creator tools before a broader rollout into other markets as the company witnesses growing usage and engagement levels for its products.
It was among the first markets where the firm rolled out Reels on Instagram in July 2020. This rollout came shortly after ByteDance-owned short video app TikTok was banned in India.
In fact, Instagram's growth in India provided a big boost to Meta's efforts to compete with TikTok globally.
"A pivotal factor contributing to Instagram's popularity in India has been TikTok's ban in the country in 2020. Instagram Reels has effectively filled the void... offering users a comparable platform for creating and sharing short-form videos," app intelligence firm Sensor Tower said in a report released last year.
Is TikTok coming back in India?
Last month, TikTok’s website was briefly accessible to users on some broadband and mobile networks, sparking speculation that the service could make a comeback in India as relations between New Delhi and Beijing begin to thaw.
However, Union Minister for IT, Information and Broadcasting and Railways, Ashwini Vaishnaw told Moneycontrol in a recent interview that there is no proposal to lift the ban in the country at present. TikTok had about 200 million users in India before it was banned in the country.
What other features is Instagram testing to improve the Reels experience?
In the next few months, Instagram will also test a way for users to fine-tune the Reels algorithm, in a bid to give them more control over the experience. In this test, people will be able to add and remove topics to better reflect their interests. The company plans to later expand this feature to the Explore and the Feed sections.
Mosseri noted that they found the feature to be a meaningful way to shape the experience, correct Instagram when it gets things wrong, and add interests the platform may have missed.
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