All through 2021, we noticed Instagram copy just about all the things that TikTok has to supply, and in response to Instagram chief Adam Mosseri, you may anticipate much more of the identical in 2022, because the platform seems to give attention to its key areas of development – and particularly, consolidating its video codecs to maximise engagement.

Within the above video publish, wherein Mosseri sums up the previous 12 months, he additionally says that Instagram might be centered on two key themes in 2022 – ‘Video and Management’

On the video entrance, Mosseri says that – you guessed it – Reels will stay the important thing focus:

“We’re going to double-down on our give attention to video and consolidate all of our video codecs round Reels”

The rise and rise of TikTok has consequently elevated the stress on Instagram, which was as soon as the main platform for younger individuals to attach, and since then, IG has been scrambling to catch up, in any manner that it could possibly, which has result in blended outcomes from a perceptual and utilization standpoint.

However from an general utilization standpoint, these efforts have labored. Again in June, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg famous that Reels had develop into the biggest contributor to engagement development on Instagram, and with the broader client shift in direction of short-form video, it is sensible for Instagram to additionally transfer with the instances, and align with what individuals wish to see.

So what is going to that appear to be in apply?

We’re already seeing it, with Reels clips now being built-in into your fundamental Instagram feed, whereas Instagram additionally merged its video codecs again in October, and has since been robotically defaulting shorter movies into Reels clips because it seems to develop Reels attain and publicity.

Finally – and I’ve been saying this for a few years now – I think Instagram will open to a full-screen Reels/Tales feed, transferring away from the standard house stream of static posts, which is able to put considerably extra give attention to the format, and make it the first connection choice, once more transferring extra into line with TikTok.

Is {that a} good factor? Will it assist Instagram sluggish TikTok’s momentum?

So much comes all the way down to your private perspective, however for Instagram, and guardian firm Meta, the numbers will inform the last word story. Even for those who suppose their replication efforts are a bit low cost and cheesy, if engagement rises because of this…

Mosseri additionally notes that Instagram might be seeking to make messaging a much bigger focus within the app, which is now ‘the first manner that folks join on-line’, whereas it’ll even be wanting so as to add extra monetization instruments for creators within the app.

And the ultimate factor of focus is transparency, and offering extra perception into ‘how Instagram works’.

That may probably come within the type of Instagram’s coming chronological feed toggle, which is able to give customers the capability to simply change to a reverse chronological publish feed – although it received’t be a saveable choice (i.e. you’ll have to manually change to the chronological feed each time you open the app).

It’ll be fascinating to see what different transparency parts Instagram seems to implement, in an effort to provide customers extra management over their expertise, and general, it’ll be fascinating to see whether or not Instagram’s continued push into TikTok-like territory might be its saving grace or its dying knell.

I imply, Instagram is much from failure on this respect. The app has greater than a billion customers (reportedly, Instagram now has greater than 2 billion customers, however that quantity has not been formally confirmed), and it’s nonetheless a key connection choice for a lot of, whereas its eCommerce push can be sparking new behaviors and developments within the app.

There are many methods for Instagram to stay related and powerful – however whether or not changing into extra like TikTok will assist it preserve reference to youthful audiences is unclear.

Possibly, by means of enhanced alternatives for creators, it could possibly lure extra huge names to its app, and away from TikTok, which might be a key pathway to ongoing development, or perhaps, by means of Meta’s coming AR wearables, Instagram will tackle a brand new type of relevance within the coming AR shift.

There’s quite a bit to return, and you’ll anticipate loads of change at IG because of this.

Additionally, extra TikTok – you’ll see increasingly TikTok-like parts, as has develop into the norm for the app.

Bonus: Instagram has additionally printed its prime hashtags of 2021:

Helpful pattern notes to your reference.