- "Blend" lets you and a friend see each other's Instagram Reels.
- It's meant to spark conversation and more DMs with friends.
- But it's deeper: Showing your IG feed is now showing who you really are.
I learned a lot about my friends when I tried "Blend," the new Instagram feature that lets you see each other's Reels feeds.
I saw one friend got lots of videos about New York City restaurants, another got lots of Italian brainrot AI slop. And I was surprised to see some overlap — two other friends of mine were being served the same video I had already seen of a tween boy doing impressive choreography to Alanis Morissette in a Target aisle.
Instagram knows you aren't posting to the grid anymore. You're DMing Reels back and forth with your friends. Blend is supposed to facilitate more of that. But the new feature also reveals something we already kind of felt: our individual Reels algorithms are now the best expressions of ourselves.
Blend lives inside the DMs — tap that new smiley icon next to the phone icon at the top of a DM. That invites the other person to a Blend, and from there, you can see what Reels they're seeing, and they see what you see. You can reply to each other to discuss the videos as you watch.
Here's the nice version of how this should work. Let's say I'm into skateboarding and you're into cooking. We start a Blend — and now I can see the cooking videos you get served in your Reels algorithm, and I can comment back to you, "Oh, wow! This recipe looks cool. Have you ever tried something like this?"
Meanwhile, you are seeing the kinds of skateboard videos I've been seeing, and you might say, "Wow, what a nice ollie, dear friend! I feel so much closer to you now that we share interests! I love to connect in messaging over social media with you!"
OK, before I get into why I think this isn't really how anyone is using this new feature (but also why Blend is amazing), here's why Instagram is doing this.
Instagram has known for a while that DMs are where most of the activity is happening. Instagram boss Adam Mosseri has said this over and over for the last year or two in the video addresses he gives over Instagram that are meant to give some transparency over how Instagram and the algorithm work.
The biggest growing source of interaction on Instagram is people DMing Reels to each other, which you can probably notice either because you do it, or you've seen a high number of share counts on Reels you watch, often higher than the comment counts.
The problem for Instagram is that DMing is a very different kind of behavior from posting. Other users can't see what you're doing if it's all hidden in the DMs.
There are a few different types of DMing that we can assume are happening:
- People who know each other in real life using Instagram DMs instead of text or email.
- Strangers messaging each other for flirting, doing business, etc.
- Fans messaging celebrities or big creator accounts just to say hi.
Instagram can build out some features for some of these use cases (they have this sort of weird AI chatbot thing for the fan/creator scenario). But most of these interactions are kind of straightforward — just messaging.
Blend is good for that low-effort sharing over DM
But there's one other situation that Instagram really CAN improve, and is seeing grow: people with modest social ties who like to communicate by sending each other Reels that they think are funny.
This kind of messaging is the best kind for Instagram, too, because it increases use of Reels — and unlike DMs, Instagram can make $$$ with Reels through advertising.
So, how can Instagram encourage people to do more of that kind of messaging, where they send Reels back and forth?
A few months ago, Instagram launched a new feature within Reels that shows you a feed of videos your friends liked. This is sort of unintuitive to find, and the experience is, frankly, kind of mediocre.
But what if you could see the feed your friend is seeing? Now that might be fun — that's what Blend is.
Your algorithm is now your personality
Now, I have my own pet theory about Blend: As Instagram is moving away from people posting their own personal photos and videos, it hasn't tamped down people's desire to share about themselves. The new version of identity on Instagram is your own personal, tailored feed. And now, for the first time, you can share your feed.
We're aware now that the Reels algorithm is a true reflection of ourselves (TikTok too, but let's put that aside for now). The videos we see aren't ones we've chosen to follow, but what the algorithm knows we like. To show someone your feed is to show yourself in a way that posting your own photos never could.
The 'I can't believe I'm seeing this!' part of Reels
Here's my even more conspiratorial idea: There's a lot of viral cringe content on Reels — videos that are not meant to be comedy videos but are inherently funny because of how earnestly ridiculous or unaware they are. Sometimes this is mean-spirited, like laughing at a kid or a person who seems genuinely unwell. But there's also some fair targets: people who believe in sungazing, horny old men, weird hustle bro influencers.
This has created a popular concept of "mythical Reel pulls" — weird, cringe, surprising videos that you can't quite understand how they ended up on your timeline. You'll see that phrase or variants about "legendary pull" commented on these kinds of videos, along with another phrase, "I built this algorithm brick by brick," which jokes about how the algorithm has been using all your views and likes to lead up to this weird moment.
This version of Blend isn't about sharing those nice cooking and skateboarding interests with your friends — this is about "Hey buddy, you gotta see the absolutely crazy stuff I've been seeing!"
My theory is that Instagram is very aware of the mythical Reel pull situation, and the best way to enhance that is to let people share their feeds with their friends. If you spent so much time building it brick by brick, you want to show it off. (Instagram didn't immediately return a request for comment on my theory.)
Instagram has long had this problem of being a place where people only show off their best, most attractive side. Think of the heyday of brunch photos and filtered selfies. Gen Z has rejected that, and is happy to show off how weird and real they are — and part of that is showing off your algorithm.
