Instagram New Feature: Content Creators Can Use Trial Reels To Experiment With New Topics For Non-Followers

Meta clarified that while followers won’t see the Trial Reels in their main feed, they may come across them in other places, such as DMs or pages with the same audio, location, or filter.

Since Trial Reels are designed to find an audience beyond your followers, it may take longer for them to gain views.

Source : Unsplash/Mariia Shalabaieva

Instagram, owned by Meta, has unveiled a new feature called Trial Reels, allowing users to share content with people who don't follow them to gauge its performance. The feature is designed for creators to experiment with content outside their usual niche. While it is currently only available to professional accounts, it’s limited to select creators who don't have one.

When sharing a Trial Reel, it won’t appear in your followers' feeds, the Reels tab, or your main grid unless you choose to make it public with the “Share to everyone” option. Instagram also states that users will be able to see performance insights for their Trial Reels within 24 hours after posting.

In a support document, Meta clarified that while followers won’t see the Trial Reels in their main feed, they may come across them in other places, such as direct messages (DMs) or pages with the same audio, location, or filter. Since Trial Reels are designed to find an audience beyond your followers, it may take longer for them to gain views. However, Instagram assured users that these reels won’t affect the performance of their regular content, as they are not part of the platform's ranking system.

Instagram New Features: How To Share Trial Reels

To share a Trial Reel on Instagram, first create your reel and, before posting, toggle the “Trial” option on. Then, click the Share button to post it. If the reel performs well and you want to make it visible to all users, you can tap on the “View trial insights” button in the reel viewer and select the “Share to everyone” option.

For automatic sharing with your followers, go to the publish screen after creating the reel, and tap the “How it works” option under the Trials toggle. Then, activate the “Share to everyone automatically” setting and click “Got it” to save your preference. Keep in mind that these settings will apply to all future Trial Reels unless you manually change them.