👋🏼 GUEST WRITER: Social Media Manager, Faith Gasparini

Instagram’s latest update has landed at Hotglue and here’s the down-low. 

The focus is on the asset more than ever before. Move over copy, you’re merely the third wheel now — 9:16 has taken over with a full screen experience (hmm, it sounds a lot like another app…). 

First impressions? It feels like a completely new environment for Instagram, and we won’t lie, one that’s taking a minute to get used to. The crisp white background is out, instead it’s a screen filled with the bleeding colour from each post. 

The best bits:

• Ooft, the 9:16 looks sharp! It’s now an inescapable experience filling the screen, rather than a mindless glance.

• Say see ya to scrolling. One swipe will only get you as far as the next post. Content creators, that means everyone has to stop on your post #helloengagementrate. 

• ‘Following’ is even easier. If a sponsored or suggested post appears down your feed, a ‘follow’ button will appear right next to the account name.

What we’re stuck on:

• Bad news caption writers, this format is not for you. Now it’s white text on a transparent background and you need to scroll to see it all. Back to Facebook we go to read Humans of New York… 

• Carousel swiping leaves us sliding into our own DMs more than sliding across posts. This function is clunky. Once you’ve opened the entire caption (which you’ll now need to do), you’ll need to minimise it before browsing the carousel. The result? Give up and scroll on.

• Copy preview? Don’t bother. Max 44 characters (about half of what we’re used to seeing).

• Want the tea on the comments? Bad luck, there’s no comment preview. Is this going to further discourage engagement through comments? 

• It’s all going well until you upload something other than a 9:16. 1:1 and 16:9s continue to be accepted, but as a result the primary colour of the image will bleed. So, a dark image means a very dark screen. 

• Be careful with the copy placement. The caption now appears over the post, so the lower quarter of the image is covered.

Our tips:

• Embrace the 9:16. 

• Keep the captions shorter than ever before, with the key message in the first 44 characters. 

• Shorter captions are even more important with carousels.

• Keep copy on the asset within the 1:1 specs.

• Keep posting those reels — it’s definitely set up to favour these!

Our verdict? 4/10. 

We won’t lie, we don’t love it just yet. We can see where it’s going, but it’s a few months off being a winner, and will rely on all users jumping across to 9:16 to make the full impact. 

Buut, we can’t wait to see its impact on performance!