Instagram will become a video immersive app

It’s official: Instagram will become a video immersive app in an announcement made by Head of Instagram: Adam Mosseri.

Instagram has by far had one of the greatest cultural impacts to human connections in the past decade. The social media app which is available in 2012 was founded by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger in 2012 and it has single handedly revolutionised our ideas of stardom, reality, celebrity success and beauty.

The app became one of the fastest photo sharing apps in the world and it also fostered a new era of creator culture and birthed some of the most influential people in the world today.

After seeing the success of video sharing with competitors Youtube and TikTok, the app has adjusted their interest video instead as announced by Adam Mosseri (Head of Instagram).

Changes are coming to video on Instagram 📺

At Instagram we’re always trying to build new features that help you get the most out of your experience. Right now we’re focused on four key areas: Creators, Video, Shopping and Messaging. pic.twitter.com/ezFp4hfDpf
— Adam Mosseri 😷 (@mosseri) June 30, 2021

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“We’re no longer a photo-sharing app,” he said in a clip posted to his social channels. He explained that over the next six months, the app will start experimenting with different types of video – “full screen, immersive, entertaining, mobile-first video” – and explicitly acknowledged TikTok and YouTube as competition.

“People are looking to Instagram to be entertained,” he concluded. “We have to embrace that.”

Instagram didn’t change the app to accommodate video content over the past decade. IGTV – Instagram’s long-form video function – wasn’t introduced until June 2018, and Instagram Reels – its version of TikTok’s 60 second videos – is still less than a year old.

So what does this mean for podcasters?

For alot of podcasters, Instagram and Facebook are the go-to platforms for promoting their podcasts so this new change signals a new way of promoting your content.

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Therefore, with these new changes, podcasters need to adapt their promotion tactics to ensure their content is picked up by your desired audience.

Adding visuals to your podcast doesn’t turn your show into a video podcast (as that requires additional editing time). Rather, all you’re doing is recording your show and sharing special scenes from the footage to promote your episodes.

Even if social media (or Instagram to be specific) isn’t your primary means of promoting your podcast, there may be listeners your podcast may not be reaching. So add the visuals and watch more listeners flock to your podcast.