According to Instagram's CEO, users now share more content via direct messages daily than they post to the public feed. This fundamental shift makes 'shareability' the most critical metric for creators aiming for growth, prioritizing content that compels users to send it to friends.

Adam Mosseri theorizes that while short-form video and messaging are symbiotic (sharing Reels), long-form video is "too far apart." Time spent on long videos cannibalizes the friend-to-friend sharing that forms Instagram's defensive moat against competitors like TikTok.

Instagram introduced clickable links in Reels, but it's a closed-loop system designed to boost engagement on its own platforms. Links can only be added using Instagram's proprietary 'Edits' app and can only point to other Instagram profiles or Reels, not external websites.

Instagram now lets users explicitly select topics for their Reels feed. This shift means creators with a tight, consistent content focus are more likely to be surfaced repeatedly. Accounts covering multiple disparate topics risk being filtered out as users narrow their preferences, making niche expertise more critical than ever for discovery.

Instagram's algorithm is expected to evolve, placing more weight on watch time over simple interactions. This change will favor the rise of longer, unscripted, "FaceTime-style" storytelling content that has proven successful on TikTok, signaling a move away from short, highly-edited Reels.

CEO Adam Mosseri frames the new TV app not as a content strategy shift, but a necessary expansion to capture audience attention on a medium where competitors like YouTube are dominant. He admits Instagram is "late to the game" and must catch up.

The long-standing strategy of posting just one Instagram Story for a massive view boost has been intentionally neutralized. CEO Adam Mosseri confirmed a fix that balances the reach between single and multiple stories, meaning the disproportionate advantage of posting only once is gone.

The more time spent scripting, refining, and editing a post, the less authentic it becomes and the worse it typically performs. Higher-performing content often results from reducing the time between the initial idea and hitting 'publish.'

When platforms like Instagram roll out a new feature, such as the awkward long horizontal format, marketers should adopt it immediately. Platforms aggressively push new features to drive adoption, rewarding early adopters with increased visibility and reach, even if the feature itself is disliked by users and creators.