Instagram Tests New ‘Add Topics' Option in the Reels Upload Process
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Loading... - Acacia Cavalcanti
- 07 Sep 2022
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Instagram is trying out another way to refine its Reels recommendations, with some users now able to add topics to their Reels uploads, in order to better categorize their clips.
As you can see in this image, posted by user Jacki Pitkow (and shared by Matt Navarra), the new ‘Topics’ option aims to help you reach other users ‘who share your interests’.
That could provide another way for Instagram to showcase your content to a more engaged, interested audience, which could help to boost your Reels performance, and help you connect with more people who are interested in your brand/content.
It could also help Instagram refine its Reels recommendation systems, which is a key focus for the app at present.
Instagram, of course, really wants you to watch more Reels, which is why you’re constantly seeing Reels inserted into every element of the app.
I mean, it has scaled this back a little bit, after users got annoyed by its initial Reels flood. But even so, with Reels already taking up 20% of all time spent in the app, and rising, Instagram is very keen to show users more Reels content, based increasingly on AI recommendations, as a means to maximize engagement and fend off competition for attention from TikTok.
But as Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri notes, it hasn’t worked out its recommendations engine just yet:
“When you discover something in your feed that you didn’t follow before, there should be a high bar — you should be delighted to see it. And I don’t think that’s happening enough right now.”
‘Delighted’ is indeed a high bar, especially for an app like Instagram, which, thus far, has required explicit user input to define their home feed. Read More...
