Why Instagram is about to look a lot more like YouTube

Instagram just announced a new feature that looks a whole lot like YouTube. In a video posted on October 26, the company announced its latest product, “Features.” According to head of Instagram Adam Mosseri and VP of product Tessa Lyons, Features is Instagram’s first major push into long-form, horizontal video, which will allow creators to post up to 90 minutes of content at a time—quite a jump from the former 20-minute maximum for vertical videos on Instagram Reels. Mosseri expects Features to start rolling out in a limited capacity this month and expand to “more and more people” down the line. “Instagram is all about connecting people over creativity, and creativity is so much more than just short-form video or posts and carousels,” Lyons says in the announcement. “If we look at how creators are telling stories today, it’s in so many different amazing formats.” Mosseri, who held an 18-year tenure at Facebook before taking the helm at Instagram in 2018, has long been opposed to adding long-form video to Instagram. Now, though, he and Lyons believe that adding long videos to the app is the best way to meet creators where they’re at. View this post on Instagram What is an Instagram…

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