IGTV is retired and makes way for ‘Instagram Video’

Wish your video experience on Instagram was more streamlined? Instagram is doing just this in the coming weeks by introducing a new general video tab, recognisable with a play button icon.

“Starting today, we’re combining IGTV and feed videos into one format - Instagram Video. We’re also introducing a new Video tab on your profile, where this combined video format will live, to make it easier for people to discover new video content.” - Instagram 6th October

The merger of the IGTV and general Instagram videos will also make way for new playback options including being able to tap anywhere on the video to enter full-screen mode, and scroll to discover new video content — similar to the For You page on Tik Tok.

You can still upload videos from your camera roll as per usual, however additional features will soon appear including trimming, filters along with people and location tagging.

While the change may seem like a minor update, it may impact organic reporting whereby in the past we treated IGTV as a different format entirely to Reels. Moving forward, due to the similar playback and viewing options, we may be able to see more overall video performance data.

The introduction of ‘Favourites’

You’re on Instagram trying to find your best mate’s engagement post but you have to scroll for 5 minutes to find it — this was me recently when I heard of the exciting news from my partner. We all know that feeling with the feed, where we cut to the chase searching for a profile instead.

Instagram get that the feed has become chaotic, so this is why they have been developing a new feature called ‘Favourites’. While they did test a similar feature in 2017, this iteration will help you categorise your most important Instagram accounts (friends, fam and creators), meaning the algorithm will place them higher in your feed.

This update appeals to me as I personally miss the chronological days of the platform. I hope Favourites can make the experience a bit more classic. A mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi first posted about the new feature on Twitter:

Instagram currently says the feature is an “internal prototype” that’s still in development, so we’ll have to see whether it’s rolled out globally in the coming months.

Addition of likes to stories

In addition to Favourites, Instagram is also testing a ‘likes’ function on stories. Currently you can respond to a story with a quick emoji which then pushes a notification to the creator. The likes feature would be a similar, quick way to respond to stories however the number would collate near the ‘send message’ box rather than build up in a creator’s inbox.

In 2019, Instagram allowed users to choose whether likes were displayed or not to reduce the pressure to meet a particular social standard among peers. Adding likes to stories then feels a bit counterintuitive, which may be a reason why there hasn’t been a public test yet. We will be keeping an eye on this feature as if it launches it could impact the way we report on organic stories in the future.

EDIT: Update!

Since posting this blog post, one more update has been released which regards Instagram Shopping.

Brands can now request to use followers’/users’ content that appears in the brand’s Tagged images in their profile Shop. The content would be included within a product option in the Shop catalogue.

Read more in our recent blog post here.