Instagram is testing a new feed experience in its ‘home’ section.
The Meta-owned photo-sharing platform is testing full-screen vertical feeds in ‘home’, where photos and videos take up more of the screen.
“We’re moving Instagram to a place where video is a bigger part of the home experience where the content is more immersive and takes up more of the screen,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri said in a video posted to social media.
“We’re starting to experiment with this week, which is a test where both photos and videos take up more of your screen. We know the future of video and the future of photos are mobile first. They are 9x16. They are immersive. And so what you’ll see is us testing taller photos and taller videos in your feed,” Mosseri further explained.
According to an image shared by the platform, users who are part of the test will see a home feed with a full-screen post with comments, captions, likes, and other features appearing on top of the post.
Seine Kim, a Meta spokesperson, as quoted by The Verge, said that ‘stories’ will be accessible at the top of a user’s screen. The full-screen post will appear as they scroll through the feed while search, ‘Reels’, shopping, and a user’s own profile will still be accessible using the buttons at the bottom of the screen.
Notifications, messages, and new post features will remain at the top, along with the ability to switch between accounts, as per the report.
Still images and video posts will also be incorporated into the full-screen feed, the spokesperson said.
The platform has been bullish on its short video format Reels. In April, Instagram said it would reward “original content” by modifying its algorithm to rank them higher than reposted content.
Instagram is also beta testing ‘Templates’, a feature that will allow creators of Reels to use formats from other videos on the platform.