Instagram really wants to become a video destination. It’s one of the reasons (I suspect) it built its own version of Snapchat’s Stories feature, and why it’s now recommending all kinds of different video-only feeds for users to scroll through.
Instagram is recommending even more video for you to watch
The photo sharer is getting into event curation again.
Mike Hewitt / Getty Images
On Wednesday the company will start suggesting videos in a new category, what it calls “event video channels.” That means that when you’re browsing for content inside the app’s Explore section, Instagram will suggest you watch a bunch of user-generated videos about a specific event, like an Adele concert. (See example below.)
The company was already recommending videos around specific topics, like comedians or skateboarding, but events are typically more timely and harder to curate. Especially newsy events. Instagram will use an algorithm to curate the video feeds around these events, according to a spokesperson, and humans will only get involved if and when users report a specific post. Each user will see events personalized for them, so Instagram may suggest different events for you than it will for your friends.
It’s worth noting that Instagram has tried this before. Last Halloween it also launched a video-only feed for specific events, but those feeds were human-curated. Pulling together video around specific events is one of the key areas both Twitter and Snapchat are trying to own, too. So it’s no surprise to see Instagram get in on the action.
The new feature is launching on Wednesday only in the U.S..
Instagram
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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