Stories Will No Longer Be Split Into 15 Second Sections
It has been discovered by Alessandro Paluzzi in the app’s source code that Instagram is testing a new 60 second Story feature, with a few lucky users getting to try it out. This means an Instagram user’s Story will not be split in four different 15 second segments, instead being posted in one continuous video. However, this has still yet to be released to a wider audience.
When pressed for a statement, Instagram issued the following:
[Image Creds: esiznews.com]“The ability to create longer Stories posts comes highly requested by our community. We’re excited to be testing 60-second Stories so that people can create and view Stories with fewer interruptions.”
As such, this lines up with their statements earlier in the year in wanting to give their users a greater amount of freedom in creating content, given this would align with their plan to make the creative tools available more accessible. This is also reflected in Instagram’s decision to move away from the IGTV function on the app in November.
This also shows Meta’s strive in trying to regain it’s spot as the top social media app for users aged 12-17 – just this year, it was announced TikTok was used weekly by 63% of teens in 2021, with only 57% using Instagram; contrastingly, TikTok was only used by 50% of users in the same demographic, and Instagram used by 61% in 2020. This may be due to TikTok’s ease of use, given the content was designed to provide the optimal experience to their users in an integrated fashion. Meanwhile, Instagram still has a range of separate functions, such as Reels.
Given this trend in consolidating content into one, easily accessible area, it will be interesting to see how these social media platforms develop, so as to deliver the most accessible content for users in the future.
Finally, for our previous #SocialShort, click here.
