Instagram is purportedly looking to give creators a helping hand when they do live video broadcasts on the platform and also give them an extra boost by adding another way for users to engage with stories.
Leaker and reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi reports that the app is working on letting its creators add moderators when they do live video. According to Paluzzi, creators will be able to choose one moderator from their list of “who’s watching” to help them manage comments, which can quickly turn into a never-ending stream of text that makes it impossible to respond to all viewers. (I say this as a sad viewer playing the smallest violin in the world who never gets their comments and questions answered, and I doubt this will change that).
In addition, 9to5Mac notes that the chosen moderator will be able to turn off comments, requests to go live, and questions from viewers, among other options. Currently, only the user hosting the live stream can moderate it.
#Instagram is working on the ability to add moderators to the live video 👀 pic.twitter.com/Aqp0bVttwR
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) November 12, 2021
Besides tinkering with lives, the company has also been knee-deep in its work on stories. Paluzzi stated in August that the platform was working on letting users “like” stories, which at the moment can only receive reactions through direct messages. So far, Paluzzi has found that Instagram is working on letting users “like” a story multiple times (which is really weird as far as metrics go), with likes appearing in the same place as story viewers.
#Instagram continues to work on the ability to like a Story 👀
Here’s what the ❤ will look like in the viewer list 👇🏻 pic.twitter.com/DMcUdpTk7N
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) November 14, 2021
Gizmodo reached out to Instagram for comment on the report about new features purportedly in the works but did not receive a response by the time of publication. We’ll make sure to update this blog if we hear back.
All in all, the rumoured new features in the company’s oven seem to be another effort to keep creators happy so that they spend more time on Instagram (and less time on other platforms with live video feeds, like feared rival TikTok). Considering that the company is basically throwing money at creators to get them to please, please make reels, it makes sense.
What will this mean for the regular Instagram user who’s not a creator? Probably nothing. Maybe they’ll get a hello or something from their favourite influencer now that the latter has a moderator (although considering the number of comments on lives, that’s still really unlikely). Likes on stories don’t mean much either if you’re not getting paid for them.
However, I’m not against these features, which aren’t a done deal until they actually launch. I know a lot of creators work very hard on their content. If this helps make their lives easier (and I mean that in both senses of the word), it’s all good.