After testing and tweaking the feature for more than a year, Instagram has now officially launched its new “Blend” option for Reels, which enables you to create a shared feed of recommended Reels with a friend or group chat.
As you can see in these example screens, you can now create a Blend feed, which will be sent as an invite via DM.
As the description notes, the Blend feed will then present a combined Reels feed, based on each member’s suggested Reels:
“See who each Reel is suggested for based on each person’s activity on Instagram, including the Reels they watch and interact with.”
So rather than sending Reels to each other (which, it’s worth noting, has become the most common form of interaction in the app), the Blend feed will show you all of the Reels that you and your friend/s would be shown individually, within a single stream.
What’s more, the Blend feed will re-align itself to your collective interests based on future Reels that you share in the chat.
As you can see in the last image above, the idea is that this will enable more active engagement around shared interests, by enabling each user within a chat to check out your recommended Reels at any time. So they can then comment things like: “This reel is sooo you.”
And when chat members do comment or react to a Reel, that’ll trigger a notification in the chat, helping to spark more discussion.
Essentially, Blend is an effort to maximize sharing behavior, based on the rise of DM activity, and the popularity of Reels, by formalizing a shared experience approach, as opposed to you having to continually share your favorite Reels with each other.
Which could work. Definitely, it feels like a more collaborative, interactive process. But then again, I feel like the majority of this type of sharing right now is focused on forwarding relevant highlights to each specific person, not showing others a full stream of what you see in the app.
For example, you’ve likely got a range of interests influencing your IG feed, and you might have that one friend who likes Reels of dogs, and another who likes DIY content, while another who likes fitness tips. With Blend, all of these varied interests will now be injected into any Blend feed that you create, though it feels like the fun of sharing each with specific friends is more personal, and more engaging, as it enables you to curate and share, like small gifts.
Enabling everyone to just see a full stream of the same, at any time, feels less personal, and maybe less engaging.
Still, it could be something, and Instagram seems excited about the possibilities.
You can create your own Blend feed from any DM chat on IG, by tapping on the Blend icon at the top of the chat, then inviting participants.
