Social media giant, Instagram, has been favoring video content for a while now and has finally premiered a simple feature that will help streamline the way you see Stories.
Previously, Stories were automatically cut into 15-second clips, creating choppiness in the playback and causing viewers to tap through several clips to navigate through a single Story to seek out the content you’re interested in. Now, Stories under 60 seconds will play continuously, in one single video.
Short-form content creators now have 2 options when it comes to how they post 60-second videos, as Instagram accepts this length as both a Story, which disappears after 24 hours or a Reel, which is nested on your home feed. Unlike Stories, which cap off at 60 seconds each, Reels allow users up to 90 seconds of video content and a space for users to interact with public comments, likes, and shares.
These changes seem like a natural progression, as Instagram continues the race against mega-giant TikTok. Instagram has taken other notes from the social media powerhouse, such as allowing full-screen playback mode for Reels. Another change to Instagram comes with the way the app has begun to favor analytic-recommended content, rather than only showing users the latest posts from people they follow.
In October 2021, Instagram did away with IGTV, which allowed users to upload up to 1 hour of video content, in favor of housing all content under 15 minutes as a Reel. It appears that Instagram is making note of how users search for videos and interact with content as they continue to simplify the user experience.
Instagram was created to be an interactive photo-sharing app but has rapidly evolved to prioritize video content and now the company has made it clear that they’ll continue on this track by adjusting the interface and tracking the way users engage with content.
