Instagram Reels - The Cyber Safety Tech Mum

A Parent's Guide to Instagram Reels

What’s like TikTok but is on another popular social media platform? Instagram Reels!

Instagram Reels (in Instagram) landed in Austalia in August 2020. If you don’t have your apps set to automatically upate, then you (or your child) will need to update Instagram to use Instagram Reels.

If your child has an Instagram account, then I suggest that you run through the following information so that you know what is available to your child on this platform.

What is Instagram Reels?

Like TikTok, users can record 15 second videos to music and shared with their friends and followers.

You can search Instagram for music for your videos
You can use AR Effects in the Instragram Gallery
There is a Timer and Countdown to enable you to get ready to record your videos
The Align function allows you to make seamless videos
Speed will let you speed up or slow down a video or even keep to the beat of the music.

Sharing Reels

If you have a Public Account (definitely NOT recommended for tweens or teens) then you can share your Reels in Explore for anyone on Instagram to see. You can also share your Reels to your feed where friends and followers can see it.

If you have a Private Account then your Reels can only be seen by your followers when you share them to your feed.

Public and Private accounts can share their Reels to Stories, close friends or in Direct Messaging.

How to get into Insta Reels

If you want to find Reels to watch on Instagram, then click on magnifying glass at the bottom and then select Reels.

If you want to make a Reel, then in Instagram, click the camera icon (top left) and then scroll through the bottom options (Normal, Boomerang etc) until you get to Reels. Press the Reels symbol and start recording your Reel!