Whether you’re a social media manager for a certain brand or an influencer, we have a feeling that Instagram’s new stories format will be a major drawback in your social media strategy, and that is especially true for those who heavily rely on Stories to engage with their audience.
Social media consultant Matt Navarra has shared his take on the latest changes, tweeting about the negative sentiments that people, and especially social media managers, are likely to experience.
Content Strategist Claudia Flannery, also shared some screenshots, revealing that some Stories are now only showing the first three frames with a small ‘Show all’ option being displayed in the top left of the screen.
Essentially, this means that if you’re posting more than only the first three frames you add to Instagram’s new stories will be seen, with the others facing a difficulty to gain exposure unless users tap on the ‘Show all’ prompt; this will definitely depend on how interesting your followers consider your content to be.
But why would Instagram’s new stories be introduced when it is very clear that it will most likely lead to a decrease in views and reach? Social Media Today reached out to the platform’s team for clarification on the matter and this the response they were met with:
This feature is in early development and testing with a very small percentage of people.
Not much can be concluded from this answer other than the fact that Instagram’s new stories are still in the testing phase. However, with TechCrunch revealing that Reels now consume 20% of the time that people spend on the platform, we can speculate that the new changes are Instagram’s way of propelling users to focus on that element of the platform.
Moreover, with rumors going around about Instagram’s testing of a new, full UI screen, it would make sense for IG’s team to develop new ways that would slowly get people used to vertical scrolling instead of horizontal scrolling.
We’ll keep you updated if and when the IG team reveals their motive behind Instagram’s new stories as they are expected to affect both your reach and even engagement rates; stay tuned to know which changes you’ll have to make to your content strategy!