Social media platform Instagram continues to chase after TikTok as it has announced that it will be trying out a full-screen version for its Reels, which will make them quite similar to the short videos that users can see on the latter application.
The feature will work in such a way that will allow users to continue using the app as they do right now, while also having access to full-screen mode. Videos will initially appear in the form they do right now on the platform, taking up a smaller -but already quite respectable- part of the screen.
Then, once the viewing time goes beyond a certain threshold and the app has ensured that the user is interested in the video (no more than three-four seconds), it will automatically transition to full-screen mode. Once there, the only buttons that will remain on the screen will be those that allow users to interact with the video itself (‘like’, ‘tag’, ‘share’, etc.)
Once the user has finished watching the video or when the video reaches its conclusion, the screen will automatically revert to its original mode, showing all its other functions on the screen – such as stories, profile, etc.
This new feature -which is still in its testing phase – is yet another attempt by Instagram and Meta to catch up with their main competitor, TikTok, who’s rapid increase in follower numbers has left a major dent in their financial development.
In yet another initiative, Meta co-founder himself Mark Zuckerberg took to Instagram posting a story through which he announced that a similar full-screen viewing function would soon be released for all the photos that are posted on the app.
