Instagram’s latest feature, Reels, has failed to produce significant engagement from users, a newly leaked report claims.
The social media giant has really been pushing to increase use of its Reels product, however, despite significant investment Instagram has so far failed to match its competitor’s TikTok’s numbers.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), reported on Monday that it had seen copies of internal research documents titled “Creators x Reels State of the Union 2022” which was released in August.
The report claimed that Instagram users are not spending much time watching these short-form videos, adding “most Reels users have no engagement whatsoever.”
WSJ tech reporter Newley Purnell also took it to Twitter to reveal that the internal research said, “Reels engagement had been falling-down 13.6 percent over the previous four weeks.”
Users are spending less than 17.6 million hours a day on Reels, whereas TikTok users spend 197.8 million hours on the short-form video-centric platform, 10 times as much as those watching on Meta’s apps, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook.
WSJ said that the company is reportedly placing a huge part of blame on a shortfall of content, citing a lack of use by creators and influencers of Reels.
Only 2.3 million users or ‘creators’ post each month on the platform, according to WSJ citing internal documents.
The internal report, is also said to have revealed that a third of all Reels were originally created on other sites, especially TikTok, as they still bear the other app’s watermark.
“Meta spokeswoman Devi Narasimhan characterised the data about viewing hours as outdated and not global in scope, but declined to disclose other numbers. She said Reels engagement currently is up, on a month-to-month basis,” Purnell said in a follow-up Twitter post.
In July, Instagram was the recipient of user backlash, after it featured new updates, those of which included: full-screen photo and video posts, which was developed to replace its distinctive user interface design.
The social media giant reversed the new updates on the platform, claiming it was introduced as a ‘test’, after user backlash.
The photo and video sharing mobile application, which is used by over 1.4 billion people globally, was accused of mimicking TikTok.
Follow us on
