Instagram’s newest guidance for creators makes one thing clear: the platform wants people to stop posting recycled TikToks on the spools. Today, Instagram says it is making changes to its algorithm and how it recommends Reels to users. Along with that, it is launching new best practices in its @creators account to give tips to Instagram users on how to make content that is likely to be seen and promoted.
The team now recommends that Reels users post vertical videos that use music found in the Instagram library or sounds they find on Reels. They also suggest “starting a trend” in which others can participate, such as dance crazes, as well as “fun” and “fun” content. Spools that are almost all covered in text, are blurred, have a watermark or logo, or have a border around them are not often recommended.
“We’re building on what we’ve learned from Explore to recommend fun and entertaining videos in places like the Moments tab and personalize the experience,” said spokesman Devi Narasimhan in an email to The Verge. “We are improving the use of classification signs that help us predict whether people will find a roll fun and whether we should recommend it.”
Narasimhan says that surveys of Instagram users have shown that people have a “less satisfying” Reels experience when the content is recycled from other apps or is blurred, so it will start to deemphasize that content in its recommendation software. This makes it less likely to be discovered by people who are not following the person who posted it.
It is not surprising that these recommendations come six months after the launch of Reels in the United States. The platform may have accepted people initially by bringing their TikToks to Instagram, but as it seems to become a popular destination on its own, Instagram needs to make sure that Reels isn’t just a TikTok ad, or worse, a place where people simply discard any content they have already made. This may mean more work for the creators, however, who will possibly have to shift some of their efforts to the Moments, instead of focusing on one platform and distributing the content everywhere else.