Instagram Stories under 60 seconds isn't any longer shifting into clips

Instagram is rolling out the power for users to upload longer uninterrupted Stories, the social network confirmed to TechCrunch on Friday. Now, once you post a Story that’s under 60 seconds long, it won’t be uneven into segments. the corporate began testing the change with select users late last year and has now rolled it bent on all users worldwide.

“We are always functioning on ways to enhance the Stories experience,” a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch in an email. “Now, you’ll be able to play and build Stories continuously for up to 60 seconds, rather than being automatically cut into 15-second clips.”

The new change could be a welcome addition to the app, likely for both users and viewers. Users will now be able to post uninterrupted Stories that won’t be uneven, and on the opposite hand, viewers will now not continually tap to urge through an extended video that they'll not actually want to determine. But, the change could even be a put-off for folks that liked the simplicity of short, bite-sized Stories.

In addition, the power to post longer uninterrupted Stories somewhat blurs the lines between Stories and Reels, as you now have two options when it involves posting a 60-second video.

As Instagram pivots to video, the social network has been increasing the closing dates on its video products. In June, the corporate added support for extended Instagram Reels of up to 90 seconds, up from the previous 60 seconds limit. Instagram also recently made a system change that sees new video posts that are shorter than a quarter-hour being automatically shared as Reels.

The changes to Instagram’s video features aren’t exactly surprising, considering that when Instagram head Adam Mosseri laid out Instagram’s priorities for 2022, he said the corporate would double down on video. He even hinted that Instagram would consolidate all of its video products around Reels and still grow the short-form product, which indicates that we might even see the lines between Stories and Reels being blurred even further.

All of this comes as Instagram has been chasing TikTok and even went to this point as rolling out a TikTok-like full-screen feed that users ended up hating most that they essentially forced the social network to steer back from the controversial change. But, that doesn’t mean Instagram goes to prevent prioritizing video, because the recent change to Stories indicates that the social network continues to be pretty adamant about being a video-focused platform.