(Pocket-lint) – Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri has suggested he isn’t satisfied with the company’s Reels platform, conceding that rival TikTok is currently outperforming the video format.
Talking on The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Mosseri said: “I’m not yet happy with it. We’re growing both in terms of how much people are sharing and how much people are consuming, but we have a long way to go. And we have to be honest that TikTok is ahead.”
The Instagram lead went on to praise TikTok’s creative tools, such as effects and filters, hinting that Instagram will eventually have to produce something similar and give creatives more to play with.
“I think we have to get better at building more powerful and creative tools that aren’t necessarily a meme or a sort of moment in a package, but give people who are more creative than us and make content for a living the ability to make something that’s going to pop,” he said.
However, it’s not just about improving the small things to try and put a dent into TikTok’s popularity and pull more users to Instagram for short-form content. Mosseri also suggested that the app could look to combine some of the formats it has launched over the last few years, since “most people” don’t necessarily know the difference between videos posted to Instagram’s feed, IGTV (the app’s home for longer videos, launched back in 2018) and Reels.
“That’s probably too nuanced a distinction to resonate with anybody, so we’re looking about how we can — not just with IGTV, but across all of Instagram — simplify and consolidate ideas, because last year we placed a lot of new bets,” he said. “I think this year we have to go back to our focus on simplicity and craft.”
It’s an interesting hint towards what Instagram could focus on over the coming year or so, and, given the amount it’s now trying to do at once, some kind of consolidation certainly wouldn’t hurt. Whether some tweaks to its swathe of platforms will be enough to help bring it in line with TikTok, though, naturally remains to be seen.
Writing by Conor Allison.
