Instagram has now launched a live test of 60-second videos in Stories, which will eliminate the 15-second segments from longer video clips and be played across many stories frames.
Last month, Alessandro Paluzzi leaked this message, which is now being shown to some users in the real environment, stored in the app’s backend code.
Instagram is rolling out its longer stories feature
Videos of up to 60 seconds will no longer be broken up into segments
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“The ability to create longer Stories posts comes highly requested by our community. We’re excited to be testing 60-second Stories so that people can create and view Stories with fewer interruptions.”
Instagram is now testing longer videos in Stories
The key point is that the first and most essential element is organization. Instagram’s Adam Mosseri has highlighted a coming consolidation of the app’s video products, with the aim of making it easier to create and manage videos. That began with the combination of its video feed posts into a single format early last month, as well as IGTV’s retirement.
“We’re looking about how we can – not just with IGTV, but across all of Instagram – simplify and consolidate ideas, because last year we placed a lot of new bets. I think this year we have to go back to our focus on simplicity and craft.”
-Adam Mosseri
The goal is regaining younger users
The goal at this point is to get longer videos into Stories, for example, so that users can now upload complete Reels. Then it’s just a case of seeing how the two functions transition from the conventional feed to one that is more Story/Reel aligned.
That’s an even bigger step and a more fundamental change for the application. But, given Meta’s emphasis on regaining younger users, you can expect it soon rather than later.
This new test is therefore a significant turning point. For the time being, it’s limited, but you can anticipate longer-length Stories videos to appear in your Instagram software soon.