Instagram plans to emphasise shortened-form content to connect users with friends

The head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has shared that the social media platform will emphasize short-form content over lengthy videos as connecting users with friends is a major aim of the core character of the social media network. Instagram owned by Meta will start prioritizing short video content over lengthy videos as long-form content might challenge the key recognition of the platform to bring users closer to friends. 

Adam Mosseri while answering questions on Instagram has said that the social media platform is not going to emphasize lengthy videos as the two key purposes of the social networking site is to assist people to connect with friends and to help users discover interests via short-form video content. He has also stated that the two key purposes of the social media platform are interdependent as a user might share an interesting video with a friend who also finds the video interesting and likes it.

Adam Mosseri has said that it fulfills the purpose of social media when for example a short video related to soccer makes a user laugh out loud and the user shares it with a friend who also likes the sport and laughs. This is how the social media network helps like-minded people and friends who have similar interests bring closer.  

As per the officials of Instagram, lengthy or long-type video content is not reciprocal, therefore, the social networking site will not be focusing on this format. Currently, Instagram lets users upload video content of up to one hour in length. The social networking platform started to endorse long video content with IGTV was unveiled in 2018 and helped users upload hour-long content on Instagram for the first time. IGTV was closed down in 2022 and this was when the platform started focusing on Reels. In the meantime, video-hosting platform TikTok is capitalizing on long-form video content by assessing hour-long video content.