Stories
Boost Your Instagram Views in 2026: 5 Must-Use Features for Creators
- •Instagram now rewards creators who treat their profile as a living body of work, with views being the primary currency for algorithm distribution.
- •Trial Reels, launched in December 2024, allow creators to test content on non-followers before committing to their main audience, with scheduling added in April 2026.
- •The platform now allows creators to add tagged posts directly to their profile grid, offering a cleaner way to showcase collaborations and user-generated content.
- •Instagram's Series feature, in testing since June 2026, bundles Reels into episodic hubs, creating bingeable content and encouraging return viewership.
- •Early Access Reels reward loyal followers with a 24-hour head start on new content, while First Draft, launched August 2026, automates raw clip editing into polished Reels in seconds.
Key Questions Answered
Trial Reels let creators publish Reels exclusively to non-followers to test concepts, hooks, and formats without risking their main audience's engagement. Introduced in December 2024, they function as built-in A/B testing and helped 40% of creators increase their posting frequency while boosting non-follower reach by 80%.
Launched globally on August 25, 2026, First Draft is a one-tap editing tool that turns raw clips into a polished Reel in under ten seconds. It analyzes footage, identifies highlights, removes silent gaps, and stitches them together, eliminating timeline scrubbing and reducing the friction of publishing.
Instagram is expanding its TV app to Samsung TVs alongside Amazon Fire TV and Google TV, introducing personalized content channels, phone-to-tv casting, a dedicated horizontal video section, and native support for Stories.
