Instagram is making almost all videos Reels and will show them to way more people

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The new era ofinstagram is an all-reels, all-the-time machine to keep users' short attention spans inside its app. Other than incentivizing users to create Reels with easier templates to let you react to content and a new dual feature that records using the front and back cameras at the same time, it has one more shortcut to a wealth of new Reels content.

Did you post a video less than 90 seconds? The built-in content tools will allow anyone to add their own spin to it, and it will be fully available for them to use.

Image: Instagram

You will get a splash screen if you post a new video on the photo sharing site.

I don't know if it will surprise users who have been on the platform for a while without diving into Reels or treating their content differently than they would on a public account. You will be able to modify public photos in the coming weeks. You can combine videos and reels on your profile.

How things work now is explained by the help center.

For public accounts: Anyone on Instagram can remix your reels and feed videos shared after remixing became available.

If you have a public account, you can turn off remixing for reels, feed videos or both without changing your account’s privacy settings. You can also turn remixing off for individual videos

There are some videos that are longer than 15 minutes that are exceptions to this. Only short videos under 90 seconds in length will be eligible for the Discovery and recommendation system.

The changes are coming into play at the same time as Facebook breaks up its main feed with the default option pulling in more recommended content. It needs something to show people that you are more than just a video sharing site.