Meta adds user and business tools, but ads risk user fatigue

The news: Meta is rolling out user feed changes and business tools on its platforms to boost engagement and maximize new ad offerings.

• Instagram is adding an activity feed for Reels where users can see which content their friends have engaged with. An all-new Meta app called Edits that lets users create videos for Reels will launch on March 15.
• Threads launched an analytics tool and started testing ads. It also gained a tool to schedule posts and a “markup” feature that lets users draw or write on posts that they’re resharing.

Engaging users: Bringing a follower activity tab to Reels, which has been absent from Instagram’s platform since 2019, could help encourage engagement amid backlash against Meta’s new content moderation policies.

“We want Instagram not to be just a place where creatives share their creativity, but one where people connect over that creativity—with friends, with shared interests,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri said.

Back to the feed: Offering more ways to connect with friends within Instagram feeds could help pull younger users out of messaging spaces and expose them to more creator content and ads.

• More than half (53.5%) of Gen Zers use social media for direct messaging.
• Promoting content that’s enjoyed by peers could provide a reprieve from the ads and divisive political content that can push social media users away.

Brand benefits: Threads has mostly lacked any business-forward tools, but as it gears up to launch ads, it may be focused on building out offerings for brands.

• It started testing ads with select brands last week in the US and Japan. The new content will appear between posts, similar to Facebook’s feed.
• Users can now access analytics data on mobile and web through a dedicated insights tab, which can sort posts by views and likes. The tab also includes information on follower growth, interaction rates, and top-performing posts.

With Meta’s emphasis on content-recommendation algorithms, these features could help brands and creators keep track of how they’re attracting views and what type of content is making it onto user feeds.

Our take: Meta is doubling down on user-engagement tools, perhaps to avoid a larger exodus of users—as X has seen—over its decision to cut fact-checking.

However, users could become frustrated with Threads’ growing focus on monetization and be pushed toward ad-free platforms like Bluesky.

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