Meta has announced that it is rolling out a series of updates to Instagram Reels, with a focus on improving the experience for creators. The updates include a dedicated destination for trending audio and hashtags on Reels, expanded access to Gifts on Reels in more countries, enhanced editing tools, new metrics and more.
With the new update, creators will have access to the top trending songs and hashtags on Reels, as well as how many times the audio has been used. This will allow creators to better inform their content and stay on top of trends. The dedicated section can be accessed through the Professional Dashboard, where creators can find trending audio and hashtags.
Instagram is also expanding access to its Gifts feature to more countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Mexico, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Gifts allow fans to provide direct monetary support to creators in the form of themed virtual gifts, which can cost anywhere from 10 to several hundred virtual currency Stars.
The new update also makes it easier for creators to edit their Reels on Instagram, with a unified editing screen that brings together video clips, audio, stickers and text. The company plans to introduce additional tools to make editing Reels simpler and easier for creators.
Finally, creators will get access to new Reels insights, including a “total watch time” metric that captures the total amount of time a reel was played, and an “average watch time” metric that captures the average amount of time spent playing a reel.
Overall, these updates are aimed at making Instagram Reels a more attractive platform for creators, and to encourage more users to create and share content on the platform. With the rise of short-form video content, Instagram is positioning itself to be a major player in this space, and these updates are a clear indication of the company’s commitment to this strategy.
