Instagram is redesigning the layout of its app with a new Shop button. As per images shared by the company in a blog post, the new Shop button replaces the Activity tab (represented by a heart) that now sits at the top right corner of the home page. Similarly, the dedicated Reels button that was introduced in September this year now sits at the centre – replacing the button that allowed users to add to a new post. The New Post button is also pushed at the top right corner, while the Explore button (represented by the search icon) sits between the Home and Reels tabs at the bottom.
Instagram Head Adam Mosseri in the blog post states that new layout reflects a growing shift toward short-form video content and an increase in shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Facebook-owned social media platform already had a Shop tab within the Explore tab, while it is also testing the shopping feature through Reels. Last month, Instagram extended the shopping feature to IGTV. “We don’t take these changes lightly – we haven’t updated Instagram’s home screen in a big way for quite a while. But how people create and enjoy culture has changed, and the biggest risk to Instagram is not that we change too fast, but that we don’t change and become irrelevant,” Mosseri in the post said.
Instagram claims that the new Shop button on the home screen would allow creators to showcase their products to a wider audience. Similarly, the placement of the Reels button also highlights the company’s efforts for its wider adoption by its users. At the moment, the new layout appears to be available to limited users, and Instagram is yet to share more details over its broader rollout. Last month, Facebook merged Instagram direct messages (DM) with the Messenger app for users in India. Similarly, users who opted for the merger also saw the emergence of the Messenger icon instead of the classic DM logo. The feature allows Instagram users to send messages to contacts on Facebook Messenger without the leaving app and vice versa.