Instagram shakes up Reels with focus on originality and smaller creators

Image: Meta

Instagram is overhauling its Reels recommendations in a major shift that prioritizes original content and levels the playing field for smaller accounts. This will significantly impact aggregator accounts that primarily repost others' work.

The company acknowledges that its current system favours established creators and aggregators. Their goal is to fix this and give all creators a fairer shot at reaching new audiences. This means the algorithm will no longer prioritize follower count.

Here's how it might work: engaging Reels are shown to a targeted audience, regardless of who posted them. As engagement grows, the Reel reaches wider audiences in stages. This rollout will take effect over the coming months.

Instagram is also getting aggressive with reposted content. They'll actively replace reposted Reels with the original clip in recommendations. Accounts sharing reposts will be tagged with the original creator's name. There are exceptions: significant edits like voice-overs, reaction clips, or memes are allowed. 

However, repeat offenders who post unoriginal content ten times in 30 days will be penalized by having their Reels excluded from recommendations altogether. This could be a significant blow to aggregator accounts relying on reposts, often for affiliate marketing.

While these changes currently only apply to Reels, they hint at a broader strategy for Instagram. The company is exploring similar approaches for other formats, potentially reducing the dominance of follower count across the app.

This update comes after Instagram head Adam Mosseri faced creator complaints about low post visibility despite high follower counts. These changes suggest Meta is prioritizing engagement metrics over follower numbers, which might frustrate established creators, but aims to create a fairer platform for all.

This isn't the first time Instagram has tweaked its algorithm to promote original content. In 2022, Mosseri expressed concerns about overvaluing aggregators, but challenges in identifying original content limited the impact. The latest changes suggest a renewed effort to address the imbalance.

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