The Photo App Turns to Video
Graphic made by Director of Marketing, Karla Rubalcalva
Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app, says Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram. In a video posted on Instagram and Twitter on June 30, Mosseri announced that the company will focus on being an entertainment hub, specifically when it comes to video content, to compete with major video platforms YouTube and TikTok.
That’s a big change. It’s also a direction Instagram has been moving towards for a few years now.
Take a look at your Instagram app. The center position that used to be the “New Post” button is, as of last summer, now Reels. Short-form, full-screen videos that you scroll to cycle through? Sounds like TikTok. And you’ll find that most of the content on Reels is reposted from TikTok—most creators use both.
It’s no accident that Reels and Shopping have pride of place in the app’s new user interface. Instagram is putting its energy into areas that naturally foster longer attention spans and more engagement than still photos. More specifically, Mosseri said Instagram is focusing on developing four main areas. Let’s break down what we know about each of these.
Creators - Instagram is trying to make it easier for creators to be compensated for their work. We’ve seen a bit of this already—and it’s high time! Instagram is currently offering certain creators payment to go Live, simultaneously hyping up a new video feature and giving creators access to direct compensation. Instagram is also introducing an in-app affiliate hub, which will allow creators to monetize content associated with partner brands.
Video - Currently, Instagram supports video over three areas. Reels, which are short videos that function similar to TikTok, IGTV, which hosts longer videos that compete with YouTube, and Stories, which were originally compared to Snapchat but have since differentiated themselves.
Shopping - We don’t yet know what Instagram’s plans are, but the goal is to make it easier for businesses to connect customers from Instagram directly to their shops. This is perhaps Instagram’s most unique functionality. Social media strategist Ben Leavitt says, “There isn’t another platform that allows [businesses] to have that kind of connection with customers.”
Messaging - This is the most mysterious. Mosseri says that users are connecting with their close friends in direct messages rather than in posts or stories. Instagram has already introduced Rooms, essentially a video chat for up to 50 people. Perhaps they will take inspiration from invite-only chat app Clubhouse and lean into the private side of Instagram more.
These are seismic shifts for the 11-year old tech company, which just last summer was called “the #1 photo-sharing application” by Investopedia. Instagram is taking the chance that getting in on the video game in a big way will be more important to the longevity of the platform than being #1 in their category. Unless they think these changes are enough to catapult them ahead of TikTok and YouTube.
So, what does this mean?
For Users
Don’t expect Instagram photos to disappear overnight. The only changes you should expect to see immediately are the introduction of what Mosseri calls “recommendations,” or things in your Feed from accounts you might not be following yet, and “topics,” which will allow you to indicate the kind of content you’re most interested in. This gives the app and the algorithm a lot more freedom when it comes to what shows up in your Feed—and is a pretty significant departure from only seeing content from accounts and hashtags you follow.
For Creators
If Instagram is a significant part of your marketing mix, you’ll want to start experimenting with Reels and IGTV. There’s huge growth potential right now with Reels, since the videos aren’t limited to your followers and have the potential to reach far beyond your normal circles. Combined with the platform’s plan to help creators monetize their content, it may be a very good time for your business to focus on Instagram.
The downside? Instagram is no longer a great place for photographers to share their work or for businesses that don’t want to invest in video. The app has made it clear that growth potential, both for the company and for individual creators, exists in video. Depending on how heavily they lean away from still images, Instagram may end up isolating many of their older users and creators who still use the app primarily for photography.
For Other Apps
Perhaps the shift toward video will make other non-video apps less relevant. In the wake of Instagram’s transition, will other photo and text-based platforms, like Pinterest and Twitter, find that they can’t keep up?
I doubt it. Video platforms like TikTok and YouTube require much more attention than still-image apps. There is a time for both. I am on Instagram, in its current format, far more than I’m on TikTok because I can scroll mindlessly through Instagram during Zoom meetings or while watching a TV show before bed. It’s a secondary form of entertainment, one that I look to for news from local restaurants or how my friend’s bike race went.
Video can’t be as passive, which is good for platforms that measure success by how long they keep a user on their service, but bad for me when I just have time to take a quick mental break during a meeting. The working adult doesn’t have time for all their social media platforms to be video-based.
The App to End All Apps
Instagram’s continued cannibalization and adaptation of other platform’s features may be an attempt to stay relevant and meet consumer needs, but it also makes the app bloated and increasingly difficult to place. Perhaps the most important question to ask after Mosseri’s announcement that “we’re no longer a photo-sharing app” is, ok—what is Instagram, then? A video/shopping/messaging app?
Apps that do well tend to be highly specialized and easily identifiable (TikTok and WhatsApp are good examples). Instagram is playing as if someday, they hope to be the only social media app left—the big bad that does it all.
But the internet is not a zero-sum game.
Users and creators aren’t going to limit themselves to just one app anytime soon. We’ll continue to create on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, Patreon, and wherever else we can reach an audience.
In giving up its old identity, Instagram has failed to put on a new one. It may not matter anytime soon, because Instagram has built up such a strong business platform that it has become really necessary for so many creators, but in the long run, they will need to define themselves as something more than an amalgamation of other apps.