After announcing a small alpha test of Instagram Subscriptions with 10 creators in the US, Instagram features has now finally introduced ‘Avatars’ in Stories and DMs in the US, Mexico, and Canada.
Meta has rolled out updated 3D Avatars to Facebook, Messenger, and (for the first time) Instagram Stories and DMs. Starting today, people can show up as their virtual selves across apps via stickers, feed posts, Facebook profile pictures, and more.
Instagram is now testing several new updates and has already gone live with a few of them.
Reminder: IG “Music Drops” Test (US Only)
Meta is in the process of testing out a new Music Releases (“Music Drops”) feature that enables artists to alert fans of upcoming new releases. This will allow fans to set a reminder, easily create Reels with the new music, link directly into DSPs for easy streaming, and more.
The feature is currently only being tested with a handful of artists and continues to test and expand more broadly.
Scheduled Live In IG Profile & IG Live Moderator Test
In another update, Instagram has launched a feature that allows users to feature a Scheduled Live on their profile to help them better inform the audiences when they’ll go live. It was being tested a while ago, as reported by social media geek Alessandro Paluzzi and is now implemented on the app.
Also Read: Instagram introduces ‘Subscriptions’ to help creators earn recurring monthly income
With this feature, the title, date, and time of your upcoming Scheduled Lives will automatically appear on your profile. Fans who visit your profile will now be able to easily sign up for reminders to all of your upcoming Scheduled Lives.
This removes the requirement to include a Feed post with your Scheduled Lives—although you can still add one at any time. You can see more in Adam Mosseri’s post here.
Also testing now is a new feature that will let you assign someone as a trusted Moderator during your Lives. Moderators will be able to report comments, turn off comments for a viewer, or remove viewers entirely from the Live.
You can assign a Moderator by tapping the “…” in the comment bar and either using the search bar or quickly assigning from the list of suggested accounts. Meta is testing this because it understands how important it is for artists to maintain a safe environment.
REELS- ‘Share to Facebook’ and 90 Second timeline
It has been reported in the past that Instagram is focused on merging and directing the in-app content to Facebook. Alessandro has recently spotted the company testing a ‘Share to Facebook’ option for Reels directly on Facebook’s profile.
Meanwhile, from 30 seconds to 60 seconds and now 90 seconds- Instagram has been riding high on the increasing consumption of Reels. With the rising popularity, the company is now testing ways to increase the timeline of Instagram Reels to 90 seconds.
A section of Instagrammers complained about the short time limit of Reels to accommodate the content. With 90 seconds creators will be able to curate more entertaining and informational content to drive engagement.
Stay tuned for more updates and features from Meta in our next blog.
