Instagram is exploring innovative ways to enhance user engagement and interaction with its platform. One of the new features being tested involves the ability to share comments from public posts or Reels directly to users’ Instagram Stories. This feature has been under experimentation for a few months and is currently in the live testing phase.
Furthermore, Instagram is also testing an interactive sticker that’s tied to star signs. This sticker is designed to encourage users to share more about themselves and their astrological signs, facilitating increased community engagement and connection.
These initiatives reflect Instagram’s ongoing efforts to provide users with novel ways to connect, share, and engage with content and one another on its platform.
Instagram’s new feature allowing users to share comments from public posts or Reels to their Stories bears a resemblance to similar options on other platforms. TikTok introduced a video comment reply option in 2020, while YouTube expanded comment replies for Shorts and all public comments in June. This feature enables creators to showcase interesting comments in their new videos, fostering greater interaction and engagement.
The popularity of these features on other platforms underscores their effectiveness in driving user engagement and content interaction. Instagram’s move to incorporate such a feature aligns with evolving usage trends and aims to enhance user engagement within the platform’s community.
Instagram is also adding astrology stickers
Instagram is exploring new engagement avenues with a potential astrology sticker feature. The sticker would allow users to display their star sign and birth alignment in their stories or Reels, as seen below in a screenshot shared by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi.
This small addition could significantly impact engagement, as it would include a star-sign matching feature. This feature would enable viewers to gauge their compatibility with the creator based on their star sign.
#Instagram is working on the ability to check #astrological compatibility, thanks to the new sticker they're developing 👀 https://t.co/iBx1Jrn4NN pic.twitter.com/g7RlzuK2V9
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) August 28, 2023
Although the astrology sticker may seem like a minor addition, Instagram’s emphasis on testing it within the sticker tray indicates its potential value. This feature aligns with the resurgence of interest in star signs among younger audiences. By leveraging this trend, Instagram could effectively boost engagement by encouraging users to explore the compatibility of their star signs with others, leading to increased interactions and interactions on the platform.
You will also be able to upload longer Reels on the platform
Instagram is currently testing an internal feature that would allow users to create longer Reels, with a duration of up to 10 minutes. While this feature is not yet available externally, app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi shared screenshots of the internal prototype on X, sparking interest in this potential development.
Extending the Reels time limit from three to 10 minutes would align Instagram’s short-form video feature more closely with TikTok, which expanded its maximum video length to 10 minutes in February 2022. This change would also position Reels as a direct competitor to YouTube’s video content platform.
Suppose Instagram proceeds with this extended video length. In that case, creators will benefit from additional time and flexibility to produce a wider variety of content, spanning from cooking demonstrations and beauty tutorials to educational videos and comedic sketches. This move reflects Instagram’s efforts to offer users a broader range of content options.
Featured image credit: Alexander Shatov/Unsplash
