Instagram Gets Even More Social with Blend & Friends Tab

Instagram has been upping its social game, and two of its latest updates—Blend and the Friends tab in Reels—are designed to make your content experience more personal, intuitive, and fun.

New "Friends" Tab in Reels

What Is the Friends Tab in Reels?

Introduced globally after initial testing, the Friends tab is a space within Reels dedicated to what your friends are actually enjoying—whether they’ve liked, commented on, or reposted content.

It shows public Reels your friends engage with and includes Blend recommendations—kind of like a social highlight reel.

Easily accessible by tapping Friends atop the Reels screen, switching back to your regular feed is just a tap away.

Instagram also offers control over what appears here. You can hide your likes/comments or mute specific people while still being connected.

It’s like watching your friends' Reels journey together—without screen sharing.

The "Blend" Feature

What’s a Blend?

Imagine a custom Reels feed you create with a friend or in a small group chat—tailored to shared interests and delivered right in your DMs. That’s Instagram’s new Blend feature.

Think “Spotify Blend” for Reels. Instead of swapping back and forth, you get a curated feed of videos both of you enjoy.

How to use Blend

To start, tap the Blend icon at the top of any DM, invite your friend(s), and let the shared algorithm do its thing. Feeds update daily, keeping your Reels experience fresh.

Each Reel is labeled with the person it was recommended for—so you always know whose taste got you there.

Blend turns passive scrolling into a shared adventure—scrolling isn’t just for you anymore.

A Quick Recap

Blend brings you a personalized, shared Reels feed for bonding.

The Friends Tab offers a peek into your friends' Reels activity.

More Discovery, Less Scrolling Alone

Blend and Friends transform Instagram from solo browsing into a shared social experience.

Deeper Social Connection

Blending tastes or watching what your friends engage with adds meaning to passive scrolling—making it social, not solitary.

Boost for Creators

Blend offers a new way for content to spread organically—your work can surface to people outside your usual circle.

Blend and the Friends tab are all about bringing back connection: scroll together, discover together, and keep the conversation going—all in one place. Instagram is making content more social, and more fun. So next time you open Reels, take a peek at what your friends are loving too.

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Want help weaving these fresh features into your content strategy? Feel free to DM—let’s collaborate on making your Reels more social than ever!