Instagram's eagerness to look like TikTok is no secret. New features of the social network, such as Reels, try to compete against the ByteDance app, but they don't seem to be enough. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wants to be more transparent about the company's plans. He has shared a video highlighting the most important aspects of the application today and the changes that will come to compete against the most popular platforms.
“There is a really serious competition at the moment. TikTok is huge, YouTube is even bigger, and there are also a lot of others above,” says the head of Instagram in a video posted on his Twitter profile. Mosseri wants to try to compete against these applications that focus their content on video and that collect millions and millions of users. He assures that he does not want Instagram to be considered “the application to share square photos” . For this, the social network will add new video functions that will begin to arrive in the coming months.
One of them is the ability to view full screen videos in a “mobile-centric” format. Currently, Instagram only shows full screen videos in Reels or Stories. The videos of the publications, on the other hand, have a square format and do not show any option to expand the video.
The new features that are coming to Instagram
Mosseri has also announced that the application will begin to test the recommendations in the feed . The feature will allow users to discover content related to what they search or see, but from those accounts they don't follow. TikTok offers a similar feature with the 'For You' tab. Additionally, Instagram will also implement new functions that are currently being tested. One of them is the possibility of adding links in the Stories. So far, this option is only exclusive for verified users or those with more than 10,000 followers.
The Facebook-owned company will also focus on other key areas, such as shopping and messaging and content creators . Indeed, Instagram recently confirmed a new function that will allow creators to make their content profitable through a subscription model, where users can pay a fee to access “Exclusive Stories” of their favorite influencers.
