The Instagram leader says he’s not happy with Reels yet and may “integrate” video formats

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, is unhappy with the platform’s TikTok competitor Rollers. He discussed the format, which launched in the US in August, during an interview with the edge‘s Decode Podcast Today.

“I’m not happy with that yet,” he says. “We are growing in terms of the amount of people that share and the amount of people who consume, but we still have a long way to go. We have to be honest that TikTok is at the forefront.”

He went on to say that the team is focused mostly on “table stakes” at the moment, not hustling in how to distinguish themselves. Specifically, it calls out TikTok’s innovative creative tools, like filters and effects stimulating new video memes, as something Instagram didn’t make on its own but ultimately needed to be done.

“I think we have to get better at building more powerful and creative tools that aren’t necessarily a meme or some kind of moment in a pack, but give the people who are more creative than us and make the content for living the power to make something that will pop up,” he says.

Instagram is also experiencing a conflict between many different video formats. Mosseri says that “most people” probably don’t know the difference between videos posted on Instagram and IGTV, the app’s format for existing long videos. Since 2018.

“ This is likely to be a distinction too subtle to resonate with anyone, so we’re looking at how we – not just with IGTV, but via Instagram – can simplify and incorporate ideas, because in the past year we’ve put a lot of new bets, ” He says. “I think this year we have to get back to our focus on simplicity and craftsmanship.”

This is a completely different tone than it was when Instagram launched the format and called it ‘The future of the video. But he talks about the rapid success of TikTok who, in 2018, was not quite well known in the mainstream culture but is now an engine of viral chats, memes and dances. Mosseri hints that IGTV and Reels, in addition to the public videos posted on the Instagram network, need to be kind Of inclusion and clarity, which makes sense, especially when the app is trying to do everything at once.