Instagram today announced that IGTV previews will begin showing up in users’ main feeds starting today. Ideally, you would have to tap the one-minute previews to go watch the full video in IGTV, something I can’t imagine anyone would want to do voluntarily.
Instagram first introduced its vertical-video platform last June as a standalone app, and since then, the company has been aggressively pushing its content by integrating IGTV into the main app, putting IGTV videos in the Explore tab, and putting out occasional notification banners for new videos. Instagram also added the ability for users to add IGTV previews to their own Stories. But inserting previews directly into the main feed is about the most conscious way for Instagram to send a message to its user base: “Please, for the love of god, watch IGTV.”
Now, you can preview IGTV videos in your feed. When there’s a new video from someone you follow, you can tap from your feed to watch the full video in IGTV. ( @HannahStocking) pic.twitter.com/tkYSchB7E8
— Instagram (@instagram) February 7, 2019
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
IGTV, which lets users upload videos up to 10 minutes long, is part of Instagram’s strategy to cozy up to creators in order to take on YouTube and Twitch. For larger accounts, users can upload videos up to one hour in length. Still, its interface and search functionality remains quite lacking, and the platform’s insistence on vertical video is an obstacle for many online creators.
An Instagram rep told Variety, “With IGTV previews in feed, we’re making it even easier to discover and watch the latest video content from your favorite follows.” It might be easier, but it’s also against the best interests of what most users want.
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