Instagram can try to emulate another element of TikTok design with a new vertical feed for Stories, TechCrunch reports. Navigating with vertical swipes up and down would make the stories behave more like the Reels, the short video the company added to better compete with TikTok.
Vertical stories feed is not being tested, Instagram confirmed TechCrunch, but the code for the change is already in development based on this screenshot developer Alessandro Paluzzi shared. It’s not much to go on, but it shows that Instagram is at least considering the adjustment of its constantly expanding resources.
Mimicking Reels (which, in turn, was strongly “inspired” by TikTok) would unify the various Instagram feeds in some way. If Stories became a vertical experience, they would not only correspond to the Reels, but also to the original feature of the app: scroll the feed. IGTV would still work a little differently; these videos are buried in a vertical grid in profiles, but feature horizontal navigation as soon as you start watching.
In an interview with Instagram boss Adam Mosseri for Decoder podcast, he said 2020 is about “making a lot of bets”, while 2021 would be about “fulfilling those commitments and simplifying the experience”. The company is already testing changes in what kind of content can be added to the stories, and changing the way these stories are displayed could be the next step in this simplification process.