Think Instagram Expands Reels to 60 Seconds Are too Good to be True? We have News for You!
The most awaited news for the content creators has been revealed. Instagram announced that Reels video length has been expanded from 30 seconds to 60 seconds for all users. The company tweeted this update a couple of days ago. “Reels up to 60 secs. starting today.” reads the tweet.
Instagram initially launched Reels with a brief 15-seconds time limit last August, but they doubled the video length to 30 seconds a month later. But now the users can make a minute-long Instagram Reel. This modification grants creators more time to convey their ideas and will boost engagement.It is interesting to note that Instagram already allows longer video uploads in their other features like feeds where videos up to 60 seconds long can be uploaded. Longer videos can be uploaded to Stories as 15-seconds snippets. IGTV videos can take up to 1-hour video length when uploaded from the web.
Recently TikTok, the social media platform renowned for short-form videos, has expanded video length from 1 minute to 3 minutes. As we all know YouTube shorts also can be up to 60 seconds long. Instagram Head Adam Mosseri said, “Let’s be honest, there’s some really serious competition right now. TikTok is huge. YouTube is even bigger”. Hence, it is evident that Instagram just followed the trend.
Instagram is also testing Vertical Feed Presentation for Explore like TikTok. Explore remains the same until a post is selected. Once the post is tapped, it switches to a full screen Reels-like vertical display. By expanding Reels to 60 seconds Instagram is possibly encouraging cross-posting content. This can be convenient for the content creators but this can sabotage the excitement due to repetitive content.
To recapitulate, Instagram is no longer a photo-sharing app. Instagram Head Adam Mosseri on Twitter noted that they are currently experimenting with new features in the four key areas: Creators, Videos, Shopping and Messaging. The company hasn’t revealed any further information regarding the expanded Reels time cap. For the time being let’s enjoy longer Reels.
