Why ads in DMs are not the solution Instagram wants them to be

• Instagram's direct messaging features have become a core component of the platform; MIDiA data highlights that the majority of social media users log in to the platform to keep up to date with friends 
• As Instagram's Feeds – and subsequently its Stories feature – have become cluttered with noise that distracts from its original purpose, DMs have become a safe haven for users
• MIDiA raises the question: will extending ads into DMs result in a significant drop in users?

Instagram has recently announced a slew of features and updates to the direct messaging area of its app, from AI chatbots to colourful themes to broadcast channels, and other ways that make it easier for creators (and, of course, brands) to reach their audiences. 

There are two big, likely reasons behind this strategic focus. One is that, with the future of TikTok still under threat in the US, there has been talk of Reels breaking off into its own app to compete more directly in the same niche – meaning that OG Instagram needs to differentiate by doubling down on its non-Reels aspects. 

The other is simply that DMs and Stories are what users have already been turning to. In an interview with 20VC last year, Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri shared that more photos and ‘rich media’ (not including text) were shared in private DMs than in Stories and more were shared in Stories than in the Feed. 

The Reels conundrum 

Instagram has no shortage of ways for users to engage. Be it voicenote, video, photo, text, or post sharing via Stories, comments, Reels, messaging, direct purchases – you name it, there is an Instagram feature that caters to it. 

Among all the options, Reels has been a clear strategic priority – yet it comes with its caveats. When it comes to consumers’ entertainment behaviours, social video accounts for more time spent per week for 16-19-year-olds than films or TV shows. It is an attention-intensive format that requires eyes on the screen. 

Yet audiences are also having a back-and-forth struggle with this intensity. In Q1 2024, more than 80% of under-34s had made an effort to reduce their screen time in the last month. One of the main ways they did so was by deleting certain apps from their phones. Looked at another way, around the same time Elon Musk tweeted proudly that Instagram was one of the most deleted apps on the app store. Yet a quick look also revealed that it was also one of the most downloaded apps. Meanwhile, MIDiA’s weekly active user data showed no real change to the userbase. The conclusion: Instagram, powered by Reels, is a huge time sink, and when trying to cut down on screentime, users were pushed into a cycle of deleting and redownloading it on a weekly (if not more frequent) basis. 

DMs: An oasis for friends or just a new frontier for brand colonisation?

Instagram’s ‘front page’, once a peaceful collection of snapshots from the daily lives of friends, has become an overcrowded market hall of adverts, skits, information, news, conspiracies, memes, dance trends, book recommendations, and – if you are lucky – the occasional photo-drump from someone you know who recently had a birthday or holiday. This imbalance of content flies in the face of the fact that, according to MIDiA’s own ‘Social platform user behaviour’ report, the main reason users turn to the app is to keep up with their friends. No wonder DMs are so full of ‘rich media’: the Feed, filled with Reels offerings, is basically ammunition to ‘send in direct message’ to others in the human, digital version of ‘pebbling’. 

This does make the idea of moving Reels to its own app questionable. If users are trying to reduce their screentime overall and are using Instagram mainly to keep up with their friends – ostensibly by sharing content – what happens when you move most of that content to a new, separate app that they know from the onset will be time consuming? 

This process of ‘innovation’ has started to resemble a cartoonish game of whack-a-mole. First there was the Feed, where users could share their photos with each other. Then crept in the influencers, and shortly after, brands with their ads. With the Feed growing too cluttered, users moved to Stories, where they could still communicate with each other. Yet these, too, have been inundated with creators and advertising. In the meantime, the Feed has become so cluttered it is not only undesirable for users, but less profitable for the brands or creators featured on it. And as Stories go the way of the Feed, users are retreating into the DMs – only to be again chased by Broadcast channels and more ad placements. No themed, aesthetic background can replace the core function of communicating in a stress-free way with the people you care about – a function that could now be under threat. 

Instagram, and the brands who use it, should be cautious. Because, if users get pushed out of DMs the way they have the Feed (and potentially Stories), where will they have to go next except off the app altogether?