Meta’s Instagram is officially adding a shared viewing experience to its Reels feature with the introduction of “Blend,” which began rolling out today. Blend lets users create a private, invite-only Reels feed directly within their direct messages (DMs), mixing video recommendations based on the viewing habits of everyone involved in the chat. Meta positions this as a way to deepen connections and discover content through friends’ interests within the app’s messaging interface.
Creating a Shared Video Stream
Activating Blend involves tapping a new icon within an existing DM chat – whether it’s one-on-one with a single friend or within a group chat – and sending invitations to the participants. This icon was described during testing as looking like two avatars merging.
The shared feed materializes once the first invite is accepted. This isn’t a static list; Instagram states the Blend feed updates with fresh recommendations daily. The feed is also designed to dynamically re-align itself to the group’s collective interests based on future Reels shared within the chat, making it an evolving stream. Users maintain control and can exit a Blend feed whenever they choose, according to the official Instagram Help Center documentation.
Insight into Friends’ Algorithms
A distinct characteristic of Blend is its transparency about why certain videos appear. The feed explicitly notes which user’s viewing history influenced the recommendation of a specific Reel. While offering a novel way to discover content you might otherwise miss, this also provides a window into the kinds of videos your friends are consuming, which could be either entertaining or potentially awkward.
This feature launch follows other recent Instagram efforts to surface social signals around Reels, such as the introduction of a dedicated tab showing videos liked by accounts a user follows.
Refocusing Reels on Social Connection
The concept for Blend has been gestating for some time, having been spotted internally over a year ago. The official rollout comes as Meta continues to refine Reels as its answer to TikTok, reportedly seeing 4.5 billion Reels shared daily across its platforms. Blend attempts to leverage this scale by promoting private sharing and communal discovery.
While previous reports from February 2025 speculated about Meta potentially spinning Reels into a standalone application, Blend enhances the existing Reels experience within Instagram.
The idea bears some conceptual resemblance to Spotify’s Blend feature, which generates collaborative music playlists based on users’ combined listening habits. For Instagram users curious about the new Reels function, instructions and details are available via the app’s Help Center. By creating these shared, personalized spaces, Instagram hopes to make scrolling through short-form video less of an individual pursuit and more of a shared social activity.
