Instagram has started testing scheduled posts and reels in the app. This development would allow creators to schedule their content ahead of time, without having to rely on third party sites or the Facebook Creator Studio on desktop – vastly improving the user experience for creators and social media managers alike.
Move over Hootsuite! ?
Meta has confirmed that In-App Scheduling is in development for Instagram, stating “we are testing the ability to schedule content with a percentage of our global community.”
If you’re part of this lucky test group, you can go into “Advanced Settings” and schedule the date and time of your Instagram posts and reels ahead of time – IN the Instagram app! The new feature also allows you to reschedule posts, as well as view your upcoming content.
This means that if you are a content creator or social media manager you can schedule this months content on the go without having to use external third party sites like Hootsuite or SocialFlow, or the desktop Facebook Creator Studio.
While Instagram has been relatively slow to adopt native scheduling (Twitter has had a scheduling feature for a couple years), this is a welcome development and one which significantly improves the commercial usability of the app.
Is this a bid to stay relevant?
This new feature is likely an attempt to make Instagram more attractive to content creators, who are currently undergoing a mass exodus to Tiktok. A recent report by the Wall Street Journal documents a drop in engagement on Instagram, a stark contrast to Tiktok which seems to be going from strength to strength, with Forbes calling it “the most popular social media app of the year”.
By adding new features which improve and simplify the user experience, Instagram is making a bid to remain one of the dominant platforms for content creation.
Launching… sometime ?
So when will In-App scheduling go live for everyone?
Currently, this new feature is in a testing phase with limited groups – so you might already have access.
However, for the rest of us it might be a long wait on this feature. While Meta has confirmed that scheduling is being tested, they are yet to comment on when (or if) this feature will be rolled out to all users.
So for now, don’t cancel your third party scheduling subscriptions!
