A Metricool study of 24 million posts found Reels outperform single images significantly. While carousels are also performing well, the data suggests that static, single image posts are becoming far less effective for generating audience engagement on the platform.
In the last year, the average watch time for an Instagram Reel doubled from under 4.5 to over 8.5 seconds. This mirrors a trend from TikTok, indicating a platform shift where audiences now engage more with longer, story-driven content over extremely short clips.
A Metricool study revealed a counterintuitive finding: explicitly asking for likes decreases them by 5%. Conversely, asking for other interactions yields massive gains, with saves increasing 92% and comments increasing by 203% when requested in a call to action.
Meta's plan to have AI handle 90% of content reviews has been exploited by bad actors. They can trigger "reporting attacks" that trick the AI into removing legitimate profiles, which are then held for ransom to be reinstated, highlighting a significant new risk for creators.
According to Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri, removing bots or unengaged followers won't improve performance. Internal studies suggest it can even cause a dip in views and reach, as the algorithm likely interprets the mass removal simply as a significant loss of followers.
The idea of a universal "best time to post" is a myth, per Instagram's CEO. The algorithm no longer heavily weights recency. A highly engaging post from days ago will be prioritized in feeds over a new, low-interaction post, making content quality the ultimate factor for reach.