Meta-owned Instagram has announced that all video content, shorter than 15 minutes in length will be shared as a Reel. This major update will be seen in the coming weeks. With this, videos of users with a public profile can pop up in any random person’s Reels section, irrespective of whether they follow the user or not. Reels will only be visible to followers if the account is set to private.
Reels Updates
We’re announcing new features making it easier and more fun to collaborate, create and share Reels. These updates include:
– Reels Video Merge
– Reels Templates
– Remix Improvements
– Dual CameraCheck them out and let me know what you think
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— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) July 21, 2022
The videos posted prior to this update will remain as videos and won’t become Reels. Instagram started testing this feature a few weeks ago.
According to the blog post, Instagram is trying to offer a more immersive and full-screen experience The platform is also consolidating the video and Reels tab on users’ profiles, making one home for all of the videos. Notedly, now users will have to upload all the videos into a vertical Reels format for a full-screen experience.
Instagram also rolled out some new features for users to create and share Reels. The platform is introducing a new “dual” feature that lets users simultaneously record content and their reaction. Users can record using their phone’s front and back cameras at the same time to share another perspective using the Dual feature in the Instagram camera. Users can also use a template and create their own Reel by uploading both video and photos. Not only this, soon users will have the option to remix public photos.
Apparently, Meta is making a big push for Reels. Back in 2021, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Reels is now Meta’s fastest growing content format, highlighting that one of the projects Meta intends to focus on for the second half of 2022 is monetizing Reels as quickly as possible.
