Instagram tests the “Following” section for the Reels

The Instagram App continues to want to look like its competitor TikTok. As it turns out, the platform is tweaking the Reels home screen design, adding one “Following” section for users in India. To share the news in preview is the researcher Salman Memon, who showed how Indian users can access the section through a side passage. And here they can view the latest Reels shared by the people who follow. Something very similar to the “For You” section of TikTok.

Instagram: App tests a “Following” section similar to TikTok’s “For You”

We are all familiar with TikTok’s “For You” section, which manages to win over users by showing them the best content based on their interests. This means that the most popular videos here have a greater chance of being seen, regardless of whether or not users follow the accounts that have shared them. In short, a fairly functional strategy, which keeps users literally glued to the platform. Precisely for this reason, it is no wonder that the Instagram App has chosen to take a similar approach with the Feed of the Reels. Apparently, however, now the platform is also testing a separate section dedicated to “Following”, in which the contents of the users who follow each other on the App are collected.

In this way, perhaps Instagram hopes to increase the engagement of its short content. Although it is quite evident that the real strength of the social network is his algorithm. As pointed out by Eugene Wei, TikTok’s entire user interface is built around algorithmic optimization. “Everything you do from the moment the video starts playing is a signal of your feelings towards that video. Scroll up to the next video before it has even finished playing? An implicit sign of disinterest. Have you watched it more than once, letting it loop a couple of times? Did you share the video via the built-in sharing panel? If you tap the rotating LP icon at the bottom right and watch multiple videos with the same soundtrack, this is an additional cue for your taste ”. So, will the Instagram App be able to compete with all this?