What you need to know
- Instagram was spotted working on a new feature called "Blend," which would merge your tastes in Reels with a friend's for a thread of recommended short videos.
- The feature is still in development, but its early description states that your Blend is private between you and one other person.
- Instagram's Blend gives strong callbacks to a Spotify feature of the same name, which launched a few years back.
Instagram has been spotted working on "Blend," a way for users to gain a new perspective on Reels.
As spotted by Alessandro Paluzzi on X, Instagram has started developing "Bend" as a set of recommendations based on your Reels share history (via TechCrunch). Essentially, a Blend would work by leveraging the sharing history of Reels between you and one other person.
Its description notes that these Blends are "private between the two of you. You can leave Blend at any time."
Speculation suggests that this Blend page, which looks like a personal DM thread, would surface a feed of Reels. However, some information remains unknown, like how often Instagram would enable Blend to be updated with new recommended Reels.
Additionally, it feels likely that Instagram would tuck Blend into its "New Message" option on its DMs page, but we'll have to wait and see.
#Instagram is working on Blend: #Reels recommendations based on reels you've shared each other and your reels interests 👀ℹ️ Private between the two of you. You can leave a Blend at any time. pic.twitter.com/1kcssBuf7GMarch 28, 2024
What's interesting about this feature is that Spotify launched a version of this back in 2021. The music streaming service introduced Blend as a way for up to 10 people to merge their tastes in music for a continuously changing playlist of songs. Their blended playlist would be updated daily and feature the users' pictures beside songs they feel represent their combined taste.
The update cadence of Spotify's version is quite quick — and helps stir in variety and discovery daily. It's not clear how deep in development Instagram is of its coming iteration, so we might be a ways away from its arrival.
Meanwhile, a little bit of fun was added to Instagram's DMs earlier this month by way of the classic game "Pong." As a slight change, users can play Pong with a friend using emojis. Users can kickstart this secret DM game by sending an emoji to a friend or receiving one from them. Tapping their emoji (or vice versa) will produce the hidden game of Pong.
