How is Instagram Changing in 2021?
The Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri recently announced that Instagram is “no longer just a square photo sharing app.” He also revealed that according to their own research, people use the platform “to be entertained” and went on to explain that Instagram plans to ‘lean into this trend’ by focusing on three key areas:
- Video
As video continues to be one of the most popular forms of social media content , this will be the main focus of Instagram’s experimentation in the coming months, with Mosseri mentioning more “full-screen, immersive videos”. He also shares that their fast growing competitors are one of the main reasons for these changes. “Let’s be honest, there’s some really serious competition right now,” Mosseri said. “TikTok is huge, YouTube is even bigger and there are a lot of other upstarts as well.”
- Shopping
Due to the pandemic, there has been a huge shift to online shopping over the past year. This is another trend that Instagram wants to take advantage of. So look out for more digital store front features within the app and be sure to test them out.
- Messaging
Mosseri reveals that Instagram plans to explore additional messaging features, as they have noticed that users seem to be moving away from communicating via posts and stories, and are more active on direct messages.
Video in particular will be the main focus for Instagram in the coming months, with Mosseri noting that “full-screen, immersive, entertaining, mobile first” videos are all a part of the plan.
Mosseri also announced that users will see Instagram testing a “recommendations,” feature, where content from new accounts will appear in users’ feeds and users will have the option to see more or less of these recommendations.
Understanding and experimenting with Instagram’s future changes will be crucial for any business using Instagram for their marketing. You should try to adapt your content strategies around these new priorities and take advantage of any new features. This is because Instagram’s algorithm will favour these actions, helping your content to appear in more feeds.
