Instagram to let users add songs to photo carousels

NEW DELHI: Meta-owned Instagram is testing a new tool that will let users add songs to their photo carousels on the platform.

According to Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the tool is already available in a "few countries with more to come."

Instagram already allows users tag songs to individual photos but now, they will be able to add their favourite songs to the photo carousel as they swipe through the photo collection.

Zuckerberg also said that the Instagram is testing a new way to add music to Notes.

Meanwhile, AI recommendations have driven a more than 24 per cent increase in time spent on Instagram since Meta launched TikTok-rival short-video app Reels.

"Reels also continue to become more social with people resharing Reels more than 2 billion times every day, doubling over the last six months.

Reels are also increasing overall app engagement and we believe that we're gaining share in short-form video too," Zuckerberg said during the company's quarterly earnings call.

The AI is also improving monetisation and Reels monetisation efficiency is up over 30 per cent on Instagram and over 40 per cent on Facebook quarter-over-quarter, he announced.

"We've seen Reels time become more incremental to overall engagement on our services as we continue to improve our recommendation system," Zuckerberg added.

Earlier this month, Instagram added a dedicated destination for trending audio and hashtags, two new metrics to Reels insights and brought gifts on Reels to more countries.

Creators will now be able to see what the top trending topics and hashtags are on Reels.