Instagram is trying its best to keep up with TikTok

After TikTok shook the social media market and fundamentally changed the name of the game, western companies quickly rushed in to grab a piece of the pie. As per usual, Instagram was quick to follow up with a similar feature with the release of Reels in 2020.

On June 30, the head of Instagram shared a video on his Twitter page about upcoming changes in the social media platform. In his post, he mentions the addition of fullscreen mobile-first video to the app.

We’re also going to be experimenting with how do we embrace video more broadly — full screen, immersive, entertaining, mobile-first video.

These videos will appear in your feed in the form of recommendations, even if you don’t follow the account that’s posted them. Adam Mosseri explained the need for such changes by addressing the increasingly competitive environment in which Instagram finds itself.

Let’s be honest, there’s some really serious competition right now. TikTok is huge, YouTube is even bigger, and there are lots of other upstarts as well.

The days when the app was primarily photo-centric are long gone. It used to be a place where people would casually share photos of their everyday life with their friends and family. It then became a creative place for professional artists to showcase their work and promote it to a wider audience. Some would say that was the golden age of Instagram.

In the last couple of years, however, Instagram evolved into a platform that also focuses on retail, instant entertainment, and product advertising. “We’re no longer a photo-sharing app or a square photo-sharing app,” said Mosseri. He then cemented his message, saying that “people are looking to Instagram to be entertained, there’s stiff competition and there’s more to do. We have to embrace that, and that means change.”