Instagram Gets Trial Reels: What is It, How to Use It

Instagram update: Meta's image and video sharing platform, Instagram, today rolled out a new feature called Trial Reel. This new feature enables creators to share a reel with non-followers or the people who don't follow them. The idea behind introducing the new Trial Reel feature is to test the content before sharing it with the followers.

"If you’ve ever wanted to experiment with new ideas without worrying about how your followers might react, trial reels are the tool you’ve been looking for. Trial reels help take the guesswork out of how your content will perform," Meta wrote in a blog post.

Instagram says that while a Trial Reel is shown to non-followers, some followers may still see the trial reel in places other than the creator's feed. These places can be direct messages or DMs and pages that show reels with same audio or location.

Furthermore, creators will be able to view key engagement metrics in the reels viewer – including views, likes, comments and shares -- after approximately 24 hours of sharing it. This will help them understand how the reel is performing and if they need to make changes to the content in order to increase its reach and engagement.

Creators will be able to share their Trial Reel with their followers simply by tapping the 'Share with Everyone' option in the Trial Reel setting of the specific reel. Users can also choose to have Instagram automatically share their trial reel with their followers if the company determines it’s performing well based on the views it received within the first 72 hours.

Instagram Trial Reel: How to share it

Here is a step-by-step guide that Instagram users can follow to create and share a trial reel in the app:

Step 1: Open the Instagram app on your smartphone.
Step 2: Create a Reel.
Step 3: Before sharing it, toggle the Trial button.
Step 4: Tap the Share button.