Big Changes Are Coming to Instagram Reels and Group Chats, Here’s What You Should Know

Meta has started to appear like a sinking ship, which has led the tech juggernaut to start making some quick decisions to keep things going with all things having been considered and taken into account. The company is bringing major change to Instagram which will boost privacy along with providing some much needed extra sources of revenue. Let’s dive in to find out what these changes have to offer!

First things first, one of the biggest upcoming changes has to do with Instagram Reels. The social media platform has seen a lot of success with Reels, making it more competitive during the rise of TikTok than might have been the case otherwise. In spite of the fact that this is the case, many users had complained about a lack of transparency when it came to Reels, and it turns out that this is something Meta is going to focusing on moving forward

As per Salman Memon's finding, Instagram Reels will now list the location of the account that is posting the Reels because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up preventing them from spreading misinformation. This can also provide some context to viewers, since if they are watching a Reel about the invasion of Ukraine that was created by an account in Russia, this would reveal that the information can’t really be trusted.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the second big update coming to Instagram has more to do with revenue than transparency. Essentially, Meta is going to be incorporating product promotions into group chats, as spotted by Sachin Shah. Businesses will be able to use group chats to highlight products that might be relevant to the subject to the chat.

It is not currently clear what businesses will have to do in order to qualify for this form of advertising, but Meta will need to work hard in order to make it safe. Users are being offered a prompt that can allow them to take advantage of promotional opportunities within group chats, but they will still need to put a lot of effort into ensuring that things work out in a way that does not compromise on user safety.

Some might criticize this move since it will flood even more advertising onto an already saturated platform. However, Meta might argue that it has no choice. Amidst a crashing stock price as well as Apple’s transparency protocol single-handedly dismantling its business model, Meta is being forced to pull out all the stops. Whether or not this helps to save the company remains to be seen.

Read next: Instagram is About to Implement Two Important Changes
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World