Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has announced some big news about its picture-sharing platform, Instagram, today. It has been revealed that it’s going to begin testing a Reel-first experience for a limited number of users in India on the mobile app. Part of the reason for this decision is that the company has noticed that people are sending Reels to their friends 4.5 billion times per day, and it wants to capitalize on this.
For those who get included in this trial group, when you open Instagram, you’ll land directly in Reels, but Stories will remain at the top, making them easy to access. The change makes DMs super easy to access; they’re just one swipe away in the navigation bar, giving you quick access to conversations from anywhere in the app. There’s also a Following tab in the nav bar that lets you see the latest content from accounts you follow. The Following tab has three sub-tabs: All, Friends, and Latest. All gives you recommended posts and Reels from accounts you follow; Friends gives you posts and Reels from those who follow you back; and Latest gives you chronological posts and Reels from accounts you follow, with the newest content first.
Meta said it chose India to test this experience due to the massive amount and diverse Reels content that’s created there. Whether it rolls out to other countries will depend on how successful it is during testing. While short videos are popular, they’re also everywhere on social media platforms. They got popular on TikTok, but now you can find them on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and more - people might begin tiring of them.
While the Reels-first experience is still set to be tested, Meta has confirmed that it will simplify the navigation experience on Instagram globally very soon. DMs will move to the center of the nav bar for easier access, and Reels will be moved up to the second tab. After the change, you’ll be able to swipe between all tabs, making it easy to move between your favorite spaces.
Let us know in the comments what you think. Are you beginning to tire of Reels, or are you still swiping through them?
Source: Meta