Blends lets you create a personalized stream of Reels in a private conversation or group chat to stimulate discussion around the platform’s content.
This Thursday, April 17, 2025, Instagram launched Blends , a new feature allowing you to create a personalized Reels feed with your loved ones, Adam Mosseri confirmed in a video posted on his personal account.
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Blends, a “shared playlist” from Reels
Spotted by TechCrunch in March, this feature, which appears to be currently being rolled out, allows you to create “a shared Reels feed that brings together recommendations likely to appeal to you and your friends,” explains the platform’s CEO. This personalized feed, accessible by invitation, can be launched in a private conversation or a group discussion. It is updated every day with new content that would be recommended by the algorithm to the members of the conversation.
In other words, this feature takes up the concept of Spotify’s Multi-Player Mixes : collaborative playlists, designed based on the participants’ listening habits, and which offer tracks likely to please the entire group.
According to the screenshots released by Instagram (see front page image), all you have to do is open a private conversation or a group chat, then click on the two emojis displayed at the top of the screen to create a Blend. Members of the conversation will then have the option to join it by clicking on the Join Blend button.
Instagram wants to regain its community dimension
The idea behind the deployment of this feature, which, unusually enough to be noted, was not borrowed from TikTok, is to reinject a social dimension into Instagram by encouraging private exchanges around the content broadcast on the platform, recalls TechCrunch. With Blends, Meta’s social network also aims to increase viewing time and duration of use, two indicators on which it remains distanced from its main rival. In February 2025, an active user spent 32h48 per month on TikTok compared to 11h39 on Instagram, according to the annual study by We Are Social and Meltwater.
Since January, Instagram has been multiplying initiatives to capitalize on the delicate situation facing TikTok, whose future in the United States is in doubt. In recent months, the Meta platform has introduced new options for private messages, deployed its Meta AI chatbot, and conducted several experiments, such as testing a Repost feature or “locked posts.” It is also preparing to launch Edits, a video editing app with AI-powered features, specifically designed to compete with CapCut.
