Are Carousels in Reels Coming Soon to Instagram?
Focused on the development of Threads, its microblogging social network recently launched in Europe, the Meta group continues, in parallel, to enrich Instagram's functionalities. Following the introduction of a function for valuing a comment and the deployment of a layer system that simplifies the creation of Stories, the social network is now planning to bring something new to Reels, with the addition of carousels.
The information was revealed by app researcher Radu Oncescu, who is usually well-informed on internal company news. The integration of carousels within Reels will make it possible to publish several photos and videos in a single post. This new option, the arrival of which has not been confirmed by the American group, would open up new perspectives, particularly for brands, which would have a new tool for promoting their products on the platform. It would also enable influencers to explore new narrative formats.
The function is currently being tested by a handful of selected users, according to screenshots shared by Radu Oncescu on Threads (see below). No possible roll-out date has been leaked.
A New Way to Compete with TikTok?
Instagram's development of this new feature would make sense. For some months now, its main competitor TikTok has also seemed to be banking more on its photo carousel function, introduced in 2022. As we explained in a previous article, several signs corroborate this hypothesis, such as the addition of several CTAs dedicated to images in the application or the enhancement of Photo mode. And, above all, the sending of notifications to numerous American content creators, inviting them to create "photo posts on the most sought-after subjects", to develop their audience.
By integrating the carousel functionality, Instagram would thus be aligning itself with its Chinese competitor, from whom it has already frequently drawn inspiration to develop its Reels format. This "innovation" would also enable it to increase the time spent by users on its platform.