instagram is rolling out a series of changes this weekend that will conveniently make it look a lot more like TikTok than it does now that the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the law banning the app if parent company ByteDance doesn't sell it. Those changes include extending the reels to three minutes in length and changing the profile's old square grid to a rectangular layout, as Adam Mosseri announced in a <a target="_blank" data-i13n="elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:2;pos:1" class="link " href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DE-DISgytMe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank” data-ylk=”slk:instagram post;elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:2;pos:1;itc:0;sec:content-canvas”> and about its History, respectively. Considering how some users have created a specific look for their pages around the square grid, the latter probably won't appeal to everyone.
Neither is the third thing: There's now a tab in your Reels feed that shows you the videos your friends have liked or added notes to, Mosseri shared on . Which means, of course, that your friends will be able to more easily see what you've liked and are also interacting with. Didn't we already agree that this was a little invasive when instagram had, and eventually deleted, the people you follow? In any case, the changes have already begun to be implemented. You'll now see a button showing your friends' activity at the top right of the Reels tab, which will take you to the new feed.
Addressing the change from the square grid on her Stories, Mosserri attributed it to aligning with users' posting habits. “I know some of you really like squares, and square photos are kind of a legacy of instagram, but at this point most of what's uploaded (both photos and videos) is in a vertical orientation, so which is vertical versus horizontal or square, and it's just a shame to trim them too much,” he said. “So I know it's a change, I know it's a little painful, but I think it's a pain of transition.” He went on to say, “I think in the long run people will be excited” that their posts don't appear “aggressively cropped.”
instagram had already offered a somewhat TikTok-like view of users' profiles in the Reels tab, but the latest move also gives photos in the main grid a rectangular treatment (although only in the grid, they will expand to the normal size when you click). individually). Regarding lengthening the reels, Mosseri said in a separate post that while instagram has long focused on short-form videos, “we've heard feedback that this is too short for those who want to share longer stories.” Previously, instagram only allowed Reels up to 90 seconds long, although you can work around this by sharing a longer video as a non-Reel post.
TikTok, which also started focusing on short form several years ago and in 2022. If TikTok does indeed close, users will be looking for a new home for that type of content.
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