A report from Gizmodo states that Instagram's attempt to redesign a platform like TikTok, which focuses on short-form videos, did not translate into what the company is expecting as most users of the 'Reels' feature have no engagements.
(Photo : CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty Images)
This illustration picture shows Instagram's new video feature "Reels" on a smartphone in front of a screen showing an Instagram logo, on August 6, 2020 in Los Angeles.
Copies of internal research documents from Meta have been reported by The Wall Street Journal, where it unveils data of Instagram users not spending much time engaging and watching videos from this feature, some of it does not have an engagement at all.
The "Creators x Reels State of the Union 2022" was released in August. It stated that less than 17.6 million hours a day are spent by its users utilizing the "Reels" feature, compared to TikTok users' 197.8 million hours total spent time which is ten times higher than Instagram. Because of this, engagement fell 13.6% over the last four weeks.
The company's take on these numbers, they blame the lack of content creators and influencers who use Reels. Only 2.3 million Reels are posted each month out of its 11 million users on Instagram in the United States alone.
Along with this is the reposting of other content made from different platforms, like TikTok videos, where the company made a solution to prevent these circumstances. Downranking these contents in the recommendations was what Instagram did to boost the original content from different creators.
For people to be motivated to post reels on the platform and even post content for Facebook, Meta plans to pay out $1 billion to creators for the whole year, as reported first by The Verge. So far, $120 million has been funded to Instagram Reels creators, according to the reports.
Meta's Response
As per Meta's Spokesperson Devi Narasimhan these leaked reports are outdated and not globally accumulated, so they will not be reflective of the growth trends.
She added, "We still have work to do, but creators and businesses are seeing promising results and our monetization growth is faster than we expected as more people are watching, creating and connecting through Reels than ever before,"
As Narasimhan denied these figures and described them as inaccurate, she declined to share the actual figures and updated data.
Meanwhile, Instagram Chief Operating Officer Justin Osofsky stated that more improvements were needed to be done for the feature to offer a smoother experience for the viewers, but he sees "good promise in the rollout of reels" in the upcoming days.
New Features Soon
Just this month, Instagram announced that a new feature will be rolling out to selected users for testing as the company explores the ability to reshare posts in their feed based on a report from TechCrunch. As of the moment, resharing content can only be done on the platform via Instagram Stories or Direct Messages.
No confirmations have yet been given regarding the official launch of this feature.
Related Article: Instagram Gears Up on Testing "Repost" Feature to Selected Users
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Written by Inno Flores
