Locked Posts, Repost Feature: A review of features recently implemented or tested by Instagram.
1. An option to speed up the playback speed of Reels
The development was to be expected, following the extension of Reels to three minutes: since the end of March, Instagram, like its main competitor TikTok, has allowed users to double the playback speed of videos. To do this, simply press and hold the right or left edge of the screen while playing video content. The feature, “particularly requested by [the] community” and already deployed, is intended to “offer more control over the Reels experience” while encouraging sharing, according to the platform.
2. Integration of a Republish function
Since March, Instagram has been testing a new Repost feature, which, as the name suggests, allows you to reshare a post or Reel on your profile, similar to what X offers with retweets. As indicated in a help page, spotted by social media expert Sarah Roizman, these reposts will appear both in your followers’ feed, as well as in a dedicated Reposts tab, which should appear at the top of your profile. “Keep in mind that you can only repost Reels or posts if the original creator allows reposts of their content,” Instagram specifies.
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4. Introduction of a monthly summary for creators
In addition to the Statistics tab, which already allows you to track views, interactions, and changes in the number of subscribers, Instagram is considering implementing a summary, aimed at providing a regular overview of an account’s performance. As shown in the screenshots shared by app researcher Yasser Massood on Threads, this summary, which would be offered monthly to content creators, would detail, among other things, the total number of views on posts and Reels, the percentage of views generated by non-subscribers, and the best-performing content over the period. At this stage, Instagram has not communicated the date of a possible deployment.
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5. Adding “locked posts”
Instagram’s latest experiment, and not the least, is the introduction of “locked posts .” But what exactly is this? As the example shared by the official @design account (see cover image) shows, these contents would only be accessible after entering a code, which users could obtain via a clue inserted into the post, in a dedicated Story, or on the account’s channel. This mechanism is reminiscent of the Unveil sticker, launched in May 2024, which allows users to reveal a blurred Story by sending a private message to its author. For the moment, it seems that the feature is only being tested on the platform’s official accounts, reports Social Media Today.
