Topics · Signal
Friends' interactions
Contents
Friends’ interactions on Instagram are actions and expressions of interest by people someone is connected to, including liking, commenting on, reposting and directly sharing videos1234. These actions can help people discover creators’ content through the Friends feed in Reels23. Instagram’s focus on short videos is intended to support connections between friends4.
How it has changed
Connecting through shared videos
Friends’ interactions include sending videos directly to someone with a shared interest: Mosseri illustrated this with sharing a soccer highlight with another soccer fan4. He explained that watching a 10- or 20-minute video means seeing less content from friends, interacting with them less and being less likely to send that video to a friend4. He also acknowledged that short videos do not always create a connection between friends4.
Friends’ interests in Instagram advertising
Friends’ interests also matter to Instagram advertising: Mosseri said in October 2025 that the ads people see are based partly on products their friends are interested in1. He gave the example of someone having searched for a product before talking about it with another person, as a possible explanation for that person seeing a related ad1. His explanation included the interests of other people with similar tastes, so friends’ interests were not the only influence he identified1.
What you can do
- Open the Reels tab and tap the friends button at the top right to access the dedicated feed3.
See also
References
- 1Myth busting: I swear, we do not listen to your microphone.
- 2Introducing three new features to help you better connect with friends: Reposts, Friend Map, and a ‘Friends’ feed in the Reels tab.
- 3Bringing your friends to the Reels tab.
- 4A creator recently asked me if Instagram would focus more on long-form video anytime soon, and the answer is no - here’s why