Instagram Lead Says He's Not Happy With Reels Yet, Might 'Consolidate' Video Formats (theverge.com) 12
In an interview with The Verge's Decoder podcast, the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, says he's "not yet happy" with the platform's TikTok competitor Reels. The Verge reports: "I'm not yet happy with it," he says. "We're growing both in terms of how much people are sharing and how much people are consuming, but we have a long way to go. And we have to be honest that TikTok is ahead." He went on to say the team is mostly focused on "table stakes" right now, and not honed in on how to differentiate itself. Specifically, he calls out TikTok's innovative creative tools, like filters and effects that spur new video meme formats as something Instagram isn't making on its own yet but needs to eventually do.
"I think we have to get better at building more powerful and creative tools that aren't necessarily a meme or a sort of moment in a package, but give people who are more creative than us and make content for a living the ability to make something that's going to pop," he says. Instagram is also seeing a conflict between its many different video formats. Mosseri says "most people" likely don't know the difference between videos posted to Instagram and IGTV, the app's format for longer videos that's existed since 2018. "That's probably too nuanced a distinction to resonate with anybody, so 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," he says. "I think this year we have to go back to our focus on simplicity and craft."
"I think we have to get better at building more powerful and creative tools that aren't necessarily a meme or a sort of moment in a package, but give people who are more creative than us and make content for a living the ability to make something that's going to pop," he says. Instagram is also seeing a conflict between its many different video formats. Mosseri says "most people" likely don't know the difference between videos posted to Instagram and IGTV, the app's format for longer videos that's existed since 2018. "That's probably too nuanced a distinction to resonate with anybody, so 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," he says. "I think this year we have to go back to our focus on simplicity and craft."
Wow (Score:2)
"We're growing both in terms of how much people are sharing and how much people are consuming, but we have a long way to go."
Translation: "But we're still working to make this as massively addictive as possible."
felt cute. might consolidate video formats later (Score:4, Funny)
idk