Instagram is set to enhance its search capabilities, aiming to rival TikTok’s dominance in content discovery.
In a recent episode of the “Build Your Tribe” podcast, Instagram head Adam Mosseri acknowledged the platform’s current shortcomings in search functionality:
“We’re… starting to invest more in search on Instagram because there’s so much amazing content. And quite frankly, what we call content search… it’s not very good on Instagram.”
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To address this, Meta has bolstered the search team with plans to roll out improvements over the coming months and years. Mosseri emphasized that enhancing search would benefit both users and creators, allowing content to resurface beyond the initial 24 to 48 hours of posting.
“It’s a long road, but I do think that could also be a really good one for people who are looking for things. You can imagine, whatever you use Instagram for, it’d be great to be able to find ‘that’ more easily,” Mosseri said. “But also for creators … it should allow content to resurface so that you don’t get all the value in those first 24 or 48 hours.”
This initiative comes as younger users increasingly turn to social apps like TikTok for information, posing a challenge to traditional search engines. Studies have shown that a significant percentage of Gen Z users prefer social media platforms over conventional search engines for their queries.
Furthermore, Instagram is looking to refine features such as recommended searches in the comments section to provide more relevant and engaging content discovery experiences.
As Instagram continues to evolve, these enhancements aim to position the platform as a more formidable contender in the realm of content search and discovery.