Instagram chief Adam Mosseri popped up online on Thursday to highlight several new features that have just landed on the popular social networking platform.
In a video (below) shared on Twitter, Mosseri talked about the recently announced Playback feature for Instagram Stories. Playback lets you create an end-0f-year collection of up to 10 Stories to share with your followers.
“Now it’s the end of the year, and the New Year is a time to reflect on the year past and think about the year coming, and we wanted to build something that allows us to celebrate some of your favorite moments from 2021,” Mosseri said.
To use Playback, you need to have created at least three stories over the last 12 months or have your Stories Archive activated. Instagram’s algorithms will surface suggestions for your selections — useful if you have a ton of Stories to choose from — though you can also decide for yourself. Use the feature soon, though, as the feature is only available until the end of December.
🎉 New Features 🎉
We’ve rolled out some pretty fun new features this week that I wanted to share with you: – #IGPlayback – Reels Visual Replies – Profile Embed (US only for now)
Any new features you’d like to see? Let me know! 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/p8mvtJn4kA
— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) December 16, 2021
The Instagram chief also talked about the new Reels Visual Replies feature that lets you respond to a comment with a Reels video of up to 60 seconds. Mosseri urges creators to use the feature as another way to engage with followers, which could in turn lead to an increase in exposure on the platform, and maybe followers, too. For Instagram, any uptick in engagement on its platform is great news as it helps it to attract more ad dollars and boosts faith among shareholders.
You’ll see the option for Visual Replies when you go to reply to a comment. Simply select it to create a video reply and the comment will appear as a sticker.
Finally we have Profile Embeds that let you embed a miniature version of your Instagram profile in a website or blog. It’s essentially an extension of the existing feature that lets you embed Instagram photos and video on other sites.
“Maybe you want to showcase your Instagram content on a website somewhere, or link to someone else’s,” Mosseri said in his message. Profile Embeds are launching first in the U.S., with more countries expected to be added soon.
In other Instagram news, the platform recently announced it’s bringing back a version of the chronological feed, a presentation style missed by many in the Instagram community after the company ditched it in 2016.