Instagram is working on a new feature for Reels recommendation. The under-development feature is called Blend and was discovered by Reverse Engineer Alessandra Paluzzi. The feature would recommend Reels to a user and his friend based on videos they have shared with each other and based on their individual interests.
“#Instagram is working on Blend: #Reels recommendations based on reels you've shared each other and your reels interests (.) Private between the two of you. You can leave a Blend at any time,” Alessandra wrote in an X post.
Instagram has also confirmed to TechCrunch that it is working on the feature but it is currently available as an internal prototype and is not available for testing to the public.
The company has not revealed how the feature will work but a report by TechCrunch suggests when a user invites his friend to ‘Blend’, Instagram will generate a personalised feed of Reels based on what it believes two of them would be interested in.
In addition to this, as per the screenshot shared by Alessandra, Blends would be private between the user and this friend and they would be able to leave a Blend at any time.
As the functionality of the feature suggests, Instagram will now use users' DM data to proactively recommend and display Reels that it believes Blend users would enjoy. If rolled out, the feature will be unique to Instagram as its rival TikTok doesn’t offer a similar feature.
Meanwhile, Meta has rolled out new control on its Threads and Instagram platforms to let users choose to see less political content. The new control is aimed at recommending less political content from the accounts users don’t follow.
The following changes have been implemented for public accounts. Political content will no longer be recommended in spaces such as Explore, Reels, In-Feed Recommendations, and Suggested Users. However, this feature will not impact the display of content from accounts that a user has chosen to follow.
