As TikTok Ban Looms, Instagram Reels Introduces a New Way to Interact With Friends
If you double-clicked on the Instagram Reel recently, your friends may have seen it thanks to the new Instagram update. Instagram Reels is rolling out a new Friends tab that shows you all the videos your friends have liked and engaged with, the company Announce Friday. The new feature will be rolling out to US users starting today.
This is different from the Friends tab on Reels, which shows all videos made and posted by accounts you follow. This is more reminiscent of the TikTok algorithm, which weaves the videos your friends DM you into your “For Your” page.
You can view this separate Reels feed by clicking on the new pill-shaped widget in the upper right corner (which displays several of your friends’ profile pictures), and a new dedicated feed will open. From there you can also reply to these videos or send private messages to friends. If you don’t see this option yet, don’t worry – it may take some time for the new feature to roll out.
Read more: Instagram’s new teen accounts: What parents and kids need to know
The update comes after a tumultuous start to the year for Meta. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will Ending its third-party fact-checking program Across all platforms and overhauling their content moderation. Proposed changes to content moderation policies include loosening restrictions on how users can talk about gender identity and immigration, something Zuckerberg called a return to the company’s “roots of free speech.”
fact checking team and LGBTQ+ advocate Worry about what this means for the quality and security of information on the platform.
This new feature is also compatible with The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law TikTok will be effectively banned if it does not sell its U.S. operations to a new buyer approved by U.S. officials by January 19. President Joe Biden indicated He will not enforce the ban in the final hours of his term, and President-elect Donald Trump, who was sworn in on Monday, has said he is interested in finding a political solution.
But the decision creates significant uncertainty about the future of video social media for TikTok’s more than 170 million active U.S. users, some of whom may want to migrate to Instagram Reels or other platforms. alternative website.
