Meta’s popular social media platform, Instagram, is exploring additional avenues for private engagement among its users. Their latest endeavour, “Blend”, aims to offer a more intimate Reels viewing experience. This new feature amalgamates Reel content shared between friends into a single feed, thus promoting a shared viewing experience based on mutual interests and interactions.
A closer look at ‘Blend’
Spotted by app researcher Alessandro Paluzzi, ‘Blend’ serves as a unique stream where you and a friend can enjoy a curated selection of Reels. These recommendations are cleverly tailored based on the Reels you’ve shared with one another and your individual interests in Reel content. By leveraging the common practice of sharing Reels via direct messages (DMs), Instagram seeks to refine and enhance this behaviour through ‘Blend’.
Sharing through DMs has become an increasingly popular mode of interaction on the platform. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, observed in 2022 that the platform’s users were more inclined to post stories and send DMs rather than share content on their public feeds. In response, Instagram has been developing new features to foster private sharing within the app. These features include:
- Inbox Notes: A feature that brings conversation starters to the forefront of your DM inbox by highlighting chat prompts from your connections.
- Channels: Designed for celebrities and creators, this offers a direct line of communication to fans through a one-to-many messaging format.
- Collections: This feature allows users to curate and interact around selected posts within a group feed.
- Close Friends Feed Post Sharing: Instagram has introduced an option to share feed posts exclusively with a select group of close friends.
‘Blend’ represents a more nuanced attempt by Instagram to tap into its role as a content aggregator where friends often share their favourite memes, clips, and other forms of content directly through DMs or in person.
The potential of ‘Blend’
The introduction of ‘Blend’ could transform content discovery into a communal activity within the app, making the experience more engaging and interactive. However, its success isn’t guaranteed. While ‘Blend’ is not yet available for public testing, its development underscores Instagram’s commitment to enhancing user experience through innovative features that facilitate private sharing and content discovery among friends.
As Instagram continues to refine ‘Blend’, it promises to become a significant addition to the platform, provided it resonates with the user base’s preferences and habits.
In summary, Instagram’s ‘Blend’ is under development as a feature to enrich the platform’s private content sharing and discovery. Instagram aims to foster a more personalised and engaging user experience by focusing on the interactions between friends and their shared interests.
