In something of a muscle move onto the territory of video-sharing giants like YouTube, Instagram have created a new curated channel that collects suggested video content from across the social network. “Videos You Might Like” has now been rolled out on the network’s Explore page for all users.
Back in April, Instagram announced the new video-discovery channel in a post on their blog, and on July 26th, 2016 confirmed in an update that video channels had been rolled out globally on Explore.
“As people share more and more videos than ever before, we’re making it easier to discover the ones you’ll love. To begin, you’ll find a personalized channel called “Videos You Might Like” that collects videos from across Instagram’s global community into a seamless viewing experience…”
The social network has slowly been investing more and more into video. Recently, back in March, they announced the introduction of longer, 60 second videos. According to their research, over the 6 months previous to the update users had increased time spent watching video by over 40 percent. Other developments included the re-introduction of video creation from multiple clips for iOS. In the statement, the network claimed that “longer videos mean more diverse stories from the accounts you love…”
The development of curated video channels makes it clear that they intend to hold true to their promise of developing a user’s video experience, and also shows that they are more than willing to make developments in line with trends in order to complement the natural growth of the network.
Adding features that complement seamless content discovery is integral to the expansion of content-focused networks like Instagram. One of the biggest and most significant developments was their complete overhaul earlier in the year that saw a total re-brand and a new interface that centred on user-generated content.
“Videos You Might Like” will include suggested videos based on each specific user’s activity and will appear on the network’s Explore page. Other featured channels will also begin to appear in the coming months, to complement global events such as the 2016 Olympics and the Cannes Film Festival.
