You know how the first thing you see when you enter TikTok (apart from an ad) is a full-screen, vertical video? Instagram is exploring a feature that would provide a comparable, instantaneously immersive experience, with the goal of “bringing video more front and center,” according to the company. It appears to be a reoccurring subject at Meta! The subtext here is, of course, that Instagram is still trying to steal our attention away from TikTok. Reels, Instagram’s TikTok clone, now accounts for more than 20% of the time consumers spend on the platform, according to Meta’s earnings call last week.
On Facebook, individuals spend 50% of their time watching videos of various types. Aside from TikTok envy, this test has an influence on how photographs show in the stream. When Instagram tinkers with the proportions of picture postings, it’s going to stir up some debate.
You may still utilize the bottom navigation bar to access the discovery tab, Reels, purchasing, and your personal page while testing the full-screen home feed. Switching accounts, creating a post, checking alerts, and browsing your messages are all still available from the top bar. Despite the fact that the test picture we received doesn’t indicate where Stories appear, an Instagram official verified that they stay at the top of your page — they just aren’t visible in this mock-up since the snapshot was captured after scrolling past the top of the feed.
Because there is more infrastructure in place to sell advertisements on Stories, it is now a greater moneymaker for Instagram than Reels. The firm intends to expand Reels’ monetization opportunities but stated on its results call that the effort to commercialize Reels will take several years. Google, like Meta, competes with TikTok with its YouTube Shorts. Last week, Google said that it had begun testing adverts in YouTube Shorts during its earnings conference. YouTube Shorts now receives 30 billion views every day, four times as many as last year. Although Meta could not provide particular audience figures for Reels, the prevalence of video across Meta properties is growing.
