Instagram users are always on the lookout for new trendy subjects and creative ways to make engaging content for their followers to see. The more views equal more likes, which equals a bigger reach and eventually… BAM = A viral hit! However, what a lot of creators forget is that in the background, the Instagram team works just as hard on their AI programming to keep viewers hooked on your content.
As you can see in the image, shared by user Jacki Pitkow, which was shared via a retweet by social media trendspotter and consultant Matt Navarra, the new “topics” option aims to help reel creators better reach other users who share similar interests in what they like or content they enjoy watching.
This new feature in testing, which is meant for users to better filter the content that they desire to see, will provide another way for the platform to showcase your content to a more engaged and interested audience. This would in turn help boost your Reel performance, by having higher engagement rates, relevant traffic diverted to your videos, and help you connect with more users interested in your content. In addition, it will also aid the Instagram algorithm to refine its Reel recommendation systems to sort out content and suggested users to follow; an essential element for the app at present.
As Instagram increasingly tries to better position itself to compete with video-based platform TikTok, you can see the app constantly incorporate Reels into every aspect of the app; from the search bar, reel page, camera and suggested content to view.
But as Instagram Chief Adam Mosseri notes, it hasn’t completely 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.”
Stated by Chief Adam Mosseri, explaining changes to the app
This could be due to the confusion users are experiencing as the boundaries of what differentiates the two apps are blurred. So instead of using both apps for two different experiences, users pick one over the other based on the preferred content they want to see.
Having a few backlashes from Instagram users who say the app is only trying to be more like TikTok, with users launching a petition to “make Instagram, Instagram again”. Since the outcry from users and the likes of mega influencers Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner; Instagram is taking the time to filter and make the necessary adjustments to its features so that they can make it their own instead of copying, as seen by the “add topics” tool for better content refinement.
An important note to make, as there is no denying that video content or information delivered through videos is increasingly becoming more in demand, Instagram needs to take the time to create features that can set them apart, give them a higher competitive advantage and try to keep users utilizing both platforms because of its differences and not have to pick one above the other.
Let’s hope the new “add topics” feature would be able to help not only users filter their content but aid Instagram to find data that will creatively set their experience-oriented service apart.
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