Instagram borrowed the short-form video format from TikTok and rebranded it as Reels. Now, the Facebook-owned platform is looking to clone another one of TikTok’s ideas.
The social media giant has announced that it’s in the process of testing a TikTok-like vertical feed for Instagram Stories, a feature that was rather ironically borrowed from rival Snapchat.
Alessandro Paluzzi was the first to spot the new feature and his screenshots reveal a fairly simple UI that informs users about the new ability to scroll vertically to view Stories.
Instagram, which confirmed the feature’s development to TechCrunch, is probably planning to prioritize videos over photos moving forward, hence the updated Stories feed.
Adam Mosseri, the Head of Instagram, recently implied that Reels and IGTV videos could be merged into a single content format alongside regular videos. After all, most users likely don’t know the difference. This would leave Instagram with a much cleaner and, more importantly, clearer UI for users to navigate.