Watching a variety of Instagram Reels has never been easier than in a special group chat with friends. Instagram has launched Blend, a new feature that allows you to create custom Reels feeds for you and anyone you invite into a DM group.
The Meta-owned platform announced the rollout of Instagram Blend on Thursday (per TechCrunch), which is inspired by a Spotify playlist of the same name called Spotify Blend that mixes your music tastes with those of the person you invite into that playlist (assuming they have Spotify at all), and the songs refresh daily. With Instagram Blend, you can create a Reels feed in a one-on-one DM with another person or in a group chat with friends or family.
To create a Blend, tap the Blend icon located next to the call icon on the top right corner of the chat and select Invite to invite people from the same chat to join. Only when one person accepts the invitation can the Blend be born. You can also join a Blend if someone from another chat invites you to it. Either way, you’ll be able to scroll through Reels other people share that fall outside of what’s suggested to you on your main feed, and content gets refreshed every day.
Instagram Blend comes three months after the company introduced a dedicated Reels tab that allows users to see Reels their friends and followers have liked or commented on. That is a more public feature compared to Blend, where you can see Reels that your friends and family members liked or commented on in a more private setting. The one thing both Reels-centric features have in common is it helps boost discovery of content and content creators you don’t normally see on your regular feed, and if your friends like a certain Reel, chances are you will, too.
Instagram Blend isn’t available on everyone’s chat feeds yet. Updating the Instagram app from the App Store or Google Play will allow the Blend icon to show up in the chats, but it’ll be inactive for some.
Cristina Alexander is a gaming and mobile writer at Digital Trends. She blends fair coverage of games industry topics that…
Instagram continues its TikTok makeover, will convert all videos to Reels
Earlier this month, Instagram started testing a new feature that turned videos posted by users into Reels. If you count yourself among people that think it’s a bad idea, there’s some bad news. Instagram has just announced that all videos shorter than 15 minutes in length will be automatically shared as a Reel.
The change, which is going to be implemented in the coming weeks, will have a major impact. If you have a public profile, your videos don’t just pop up in another random person’s Reels section. They only appear on the main feed of people who follow you. That is about to change soon.
Read more
Instagram and Facebook apps add features, move ever-closer to TikTok parity
Meta has introduced new tools for the Reels video feature on Instagram and Facebook that are a one-two punch against TikTok. The company announced the new features on Thursday, saying they would make it easier for content creators who prefer one or both of the platforms to their behemoth long-form video competitor to better connect with their audience.
On Instagram, Meta has extended Reels to 90 seconds, giving users more time to express themselves and promote their brands and products. In addition to the extended run time, Reels is also getting stickers that were once exclusive to Instagram Stories. Aside from the captions that are present at the beginning of a video, users will be able to use polls, stickers, and emoji slider stickers when showing their viewers new things or comparing what hairstyle, outfit, or product design they might like best.
Read more
Instagram boss highlights three new features, including Profile Embeds
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri popped up online on Thursday to highlight several new features that have just landed on the popular social networking platform.
In a video (below) shared on Twitter, Mosseri talked about the recently announced Playback feature for Instagram Stories. Playback lets you create an end-0f-year collection of up to 10 Stories to share with your followers.
Read more
