Meta Platforms is expanding the scope of its Instagram Reels APIs for developers. The move follows Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s comment that the Reels short-form video feature “is our fastest growing content format by far” in a February blog post that announced the global rollout of Facebook Reels. In its Q1 earnings report, Meta said that the Reels feature accounts for more than 20 percent of user time on Instagram. Meta is now making Instagram Reels APIs available to third-party platforms, increasing the options for brands that post Instagram Reels to their accounts.

Meta says its internal measurements have been validated by external stakeholders, stating in a blog post that the expansion move comes “after consistently hearing from our developer community that Reels is a top priority.”

“We are always looking to improve our content publishing and consumption experiences, whether people use Instagram natively, or via a third-party,” Meta writes, outlining the introduction of Reels to “several endpoints on the Instagram platform.” The additional APIs empower developers to measure Reels engagement and schedule Reels, as well as publishing Reels on Instagram Business accounts.

“The APIs will also let developers reply to comments, delete comments, hide/unhide comments and disable/enable comments on Reels,” writes TechCrunch, noting that “developers will be able to find public Reels that have been tagged with specific hashtags” and can “identify Reels in which an Instagram Business or Creator’s alias has been tagged or @mentioned.”

API access will enable third-party platforms like Hootsuite and Sprout Social “to provide cross-platform posting and analytics capacity within a single dashboard, which can make it much easier to keep track of your various social posts and schedules in one place,” Social Media Today explains.

Meta says the new API enhancements “will be available for the current version, and all previous versions of the Graph API,” adding that the Reels expansion pack “will become automatically available for developers who already have access to the applicable APIs” with no further app review required for apps that have been approved for the appropriate permission access levels.

Because Reels are so popular among Instagram users, that makes them “a key priority for brands,” notes Social Media Today, writing that this added capacity to manage Reels content within broader social media management tools “will make it much easier to add Reels” into a brand’s social content mix.

Related:
Tips on How to Maximize Your Reels Content Approach, Social Media Today, 6/27/22
How-To Videos Dominate Instagram Reels, Axios, 6/21/22
Learn How to Use Instagram Reels, Digital Camera World, 6/15/22