Instagram continues to change, and after the revolution of profiles with rectangular previews, we move on to Reels, which have increased in duration. A choice that increasingly seems like a wink to TikTok users. It is perhaps no coincidence that these changes have arrived precisely at a time when the Chinese platform finds itself facing an uncertain fate in the United States of America. The announcement by Adam Mosseri, currently head of Instagram, arrived a few hours before TikTok was blacked out in the US (which was later reactivated).
Whatever the reason, users of the photo-sharing platform have found themselves with another new twist. Only yesterday were the profile previews replaced, which went from square to rectangular and positioned vertically. A change that not everyone liked. Now the change has arrived for the Reelwhich went from a duration of 90 seconds to a maximum of 3 minutes. According to Mosseri, this increase in duration will allow longer stories to be shared.
Another new feature announced by Meta, which once again concerns Reels, is to add a section that shows the videos that have been liked, or noted. There function it will be located at the top right.
According to what was reported by the platform, the decision to increase the duration dei Reel would have been motivated by the great demand from users. Many expressed dissatisfaction, complaining that 90 seconds were not enough to share their content. Hence Instagram’s choice to move to 3 minutes, something TikTok has already done in 2021.
“You can now load Reels up to three minutes long. In the past we’ve only allowed Reels up to 90 seconds long, given our focus on short videos, but we received feedback that the length was too short for those who wanted to share longer stories.
I hope this helps,” is what was stated by Adam Mosseri in a video posted on his profile.
In essence, while wanting to maintain its fundamental identityInstagram would be ready to adapt more and more to the needs of the many millions of users present.