Instagram is adding a bunch of new features to its Feed and Reels. The Facebook-owned photo-sharing platform has announced that it is testing the Collabs feature to strengthen the relationship between content creators. With the latest feature, users on the platform can co-author Feed posts and Reels with others. In the shared post, both the creator names will appear on the header, and both sets of followers can see the identical post or Reel. It will have the same likes and comments as well. Additionally, Instagram for desktop is finally making it possible to add new photos and videos, as per a report. The company is also reportedly adding new music-focussed effects for Reels. The Collabs feature is live now, and other new features are said to start rolling out in the coming days.
Instagram Testing Collabs; Users May Soon Be Able to Upload Photos From Desktop as Well
Collabs feature was launched as part of Instagram's Explore section in October. The feature makes it easier for people to co-author a post on Instagram, while also offering new functionality for creators to extend their reach. As mentioned, there is currently a trial for Instagram users to co-author Feed posts and Reels through the Collabs tool. The feature is only accessible to a small set of users currently, as the functionality seems to be only showing up in the US currently. Instagram has not announced a full rollout date for the new feature.
On the new Instagram features front, users on the desktop version will be able to upload photos from the mobile version of the app.
What Is Collabs?
Instagram announced Collabs in its Creator Insider programme blog post. Alongside the main image post, posts on Feed and Reels will have an option to add a caption to be co-authored. If the post is liked by more users than the author of the original post, the new co-author will be credited with adding "experimental Reels" to the feed. Instagram's Story, on the other hand, will show both the Collabs' creators and audience. The shared posts will appear in the feed and Reels of all users who liked the previous post.
The new Collabs feature is live on the iOS App, and will be coming soon to the Android version. Instagram started showing the matching comments along with the shared posts last year, which brings the Collabs in line with the current Instagram Stories.
How Do You Use Collaboration Tools With Instagram?
Instagram is also testing new Reels features to support this. The company is testing the ability for a user to post on his or her Story simultaneously with a user on a friend's Story. This will be available for all the feeds, and not just the stories of a particular person. Instagram also has plans to show users a preview of the posts that they may co-author on their own account. As of now, Instagram says that you can't co-author posts on your own account, and must write on someone else's. The Reels feature that's now live, will be rolled out in the coming weeks, and may let users add text to your Story.
To allow users to co-author posts, Instagram has updated the way in which users share their posts. With this feature, you will need to select a photo to post on your own profile.
What Will This Feature Give To Users?
According to a report by TechCrunch, the Collabs feature is currently being tested on the Android and iOS versions of Instagram. This means you won't be able to see the feature on your desktop, and there's no confirmation whether or not it will be launched on the desktop version of Instagram as well.
As per a screenshot shared by TechCrunch, you can see both your names and the name of the other writer. So it would seem like you are sharing the Collabs feature with your closest friends. The second element in the same screenshot, however, says 'Liked', and as mentioned before, this feature is just for Instagram users. The creators will be the ones to earn more likes, whereas the users will gain a higher set of followers as well.
Conclusion
In a blog post, Instagram has announced that it is adding Collabs feature to improve the experience between content creators. By adding a list of people who can co-author posts, users will be able to share and manage their own posts and reels. To become a collaborator, all users have to do is follow a collab account, mention their collaborator account in the co-author box, and ask to join. When a user wants to share a photo or video collab with a user, they can just mention them and they'll see it. The feature will allow people to co-author Feed posts and Reels as well, and you can view the post with your collaborator accounts' names appearing at the top of the post.
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