“We are no longer a photo sharing app,” said Adam Mosseri, director of Instagram, announcing that the app needs changes and will focus more on videos to compete with the popularity of TikTok.
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Since the boom it experienced in 2021, the short video app TikTok has become the rival to beat for other platforms. Proof of this is that many social networks have integrated the same format under the name Shorts (YouTube) , Fleets (Twitter) or Reels , in the case of Instagram . The latter, said its director, will implement new changes to give priority to the video over the photos and to remain in force.
In a video published on Wednesday, Adam Mosseri , director of Instagram , announced that the platform is getting ready to pivot and take a turn towards short videos, a format that is mainly conquering younger users.
“People go to Instagram to entertain themselves, there is tough competition and there are things to do,” said the manager. “We have to accept that, and that means change .”
Changes are coming to video on Instagram
At Instagram we’re always trying to build new features that help you get the most out of your experience. Right now we’re focused on four key areas: Creators, Video, Shopping and Messaging. pic.twitter.com/ezFp4hfDpf
– Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) June 30, 2021
Mosseri explained that the Facebook- owned app plans to test new strategies, such as recommending full-screen videos to users in their feeds, even from accounts they don’t follow.
“We’re also going to experiment with embracing video more broadly – full-screen video, immersive, entertaining, for mobile devices,” he explained. “You will see us do a number of things or experiment with various things in this space over the next few months .”
And to clarify the position of the company, Mosseri finished with a sentence that sounds like a sentence: ” We are no longer a photo-sharing application or an application to share square photos .”
The news comes after Instagram employees hinted a few days ago that the platform could add a new form of monetization through ‘Exclusive Stories’ . These would be stories only available to subscribers of a creator without the possibility of taking screenshots.