Like Stories, Instagram’s new Reels feature is proving to be a huge success, and Facebook wants to give it a more accessible place in the mobile app’s interface. At the same time, the new Shops functionality will receive special attention from the company, as it will become an important part of revenue in the future. For this reason, Instagram is already testing three new user interface templates, which add new icons for the two new sections.
There are already three interface variations for Instagram
Currently, Reels is “hidden” in the Explore section at the top. However, Stories received a place very quickly above the News Feed, so Reels should also receive a more easily accessible place in the interface. The solution that Facebook has found at the moment is to add a button in the bottom bar of the Instagram interface. The Reels button appears in all three variations of Instagram’s new interface, in various positions.
Either it replaces the Explore button, which is moved up next to messages and notifications, or it is placed in the center, and it replaces the Create button, which is moved up, to the left, and the notification button is moved next to the messages, or, finally, a new button for Reels is added, and created is moved next to the messages.
In all iterations, however, the Shops button remains down in the main bar. It seems that the Create and Explore buttons are the ones Facebook wants to move them to the Instagram interface, Reels and Shops being too important to be positioned anywhere outside the main bar. However, the Instagram interface is already quite loaded, and filling the few spaces that remained free could lead to confusion from users, who are used to the position where the buttons are now.
The last time Instagram added buttons was at the launch of IGTV
The last time Instagram integrated a new button at the top, the one for IGTV, was not very successful, that service being quickly transformed into a function that very few users have reasons to use. In fact, right now, you can’t even quickly find an IGTV section on the network, although you can still play videos in this format.
The new Instagram interface is currently being tested and we don’t know exactly when Facebook plans to launch it.
Juana loves to cover the tech and gaming industry, she always stays on the first row of CES conference and reports live from there.
