Instagram embraces tradition: voyeuristic peeping on your friends

The latest Reels feature got us + Owala supremacy + SNL is 50

Cool Shiny Culture

Megan Collins

, and

Kaley Mullin

Jan 30, 2025

Devoted TikToker Megan on dipping a toe into Reels

Meta may have done it. Or I should say, Adam Mosseri has done it. Despite carrying the deeply uncool deadweight of Zuckerberg on its back, Instagram has climbed cringe mountain and finally made Reels happen.

Taking advantage of the TikTok blackout (& lingering uncertainty about the app’s future in the US) Instagram launched several new products and features. Among them:

A whole new app to compete with the TikTok-affiliated CapCut called Edits
An expansion from 60 to 90-second Reels
And most notably, a new tab in Reels which only shows content your friends have liked

The timing of the new Reels tab drop was masterful. Mosseri, the Head of Instagram, took to his channel to announce the feature right before TikTok went dark for 12 hours leaving dopamine-chasing short-form-video-lovers with an itch to scratch. While some pledged to never go back to Meta and instead downloaded RedNote, others opted to spin the block on an existing app to fill the TikTok shaped hole in their scroll. I know I did. 😬

We’ve watched this cycle play out many times. A new app pops up, Instagram copies it, everyone complains Instagram’s copy is bad, Instagram shrugs, eventually it takes because we’re suckers for convenience. We saw it with Snapchat’s Stories, YouTube’s original TV programing, Twitter’s text posts, and TikTok’s short form videos and now these changes, also copied from TikTok.

That said, I was still very skeptical that they’d be able to pull it off this time. Reels was a joke. Literally over on TikTok users regularly make jokes about Reels being not as cool, and lagging behind the TikTok FYP. When it comes to mobile video, I’ve been a loyal TikTok viewer & creator for the last 6 years, watching YouTube Shorts exclusively for research purposes, and deigning to watch Reels only when forced to by my friends. But even I found myself tempted by this latest update.

The “With friends” tab allows you to view only reels your friends have liked and makes the content feel pre-vetted, curated and generally more relevant to you.

I personally think the With friends tab is appealingly voyeuristic, harkening back to when Insta offered a notifications tab showing your friends’ liking activity (much to the chagrin of cheaters everywhere). It’s the digital equivalent to “shoulder surfing,” watching someone else’s tv on a plane. It’s a human truth: if someone else is interested in something, it makes it more interesting to us.

But it’s worth noting that not everyone is a fan of the new feature and some feel like they didn’t sign up for this level of exhibitionism. To them I say, that’s the unfortunate nature of the social media landscape. Platforms change on a dime and Instagram is especially notorious for doing so. That said, knowing your likes are subject to public consumption will likely have long term effects on user behavior and cause some hesitation for users before they double tap. Nobody tell Ted Cruz yet, okay? 🤫

All that said, Instagram is smartly leaning into its biggest differentiator from TikTok: it’s where your friends are. TikTok’s content is hyper-curated to users' unique interests and often feels divorced from “real life,” but Instagram is the place where digital and IRL lines are blurred. The With friends tab (controversially) embraces that distinction in a way that feels true to the platform’s history.

I don’t know if I’ll continue to use Reels or if it will replace my TikTok scrolling. Between you and me, I was hoping to spend more time touching grass. But this is the first feature that’s gotten me to actively seek out & watch Reels and therefore, I must reluctantly give IG their W. 🍪

This week in Cool Shiny Culture:

🦚 Kaley’s cool: Tbh I’ve been aware it’s the 50th anniversary of SNL, but so far nothing related to the milestone has really caught my attention. That changed this week when Questlove posted the cold open of the upcoming documentary special on SNL’s musical guests. The compilation video is an entertaining and impressive 7 minute journey through the most notable acts to have graced the 30 Rock stage . Watching it served to remind me of the profound cultural impact of SNL, an institution that’s often taken for granted.

Watch here: Ladies & Gentlemen...50 Years of SNL Music

🎙️Megan’s cool: The podcast Emergency Intercom is collabing with two brands I see as harbingers of cool in the LA scene: MadHappy & Wildflower. Admittedly I’m only peripherally familiar with the podcast hosted by Enya Umanzor and Drew Phillips thanks to TikTok. For example, most recently I got served a haircutting stunt from their episode with model Alex Consani. But, the fact that they’ve broken through is significant and as podcasts continue to proliferate, I’m going to keep an eye on these two who are winning over the cool kids.

♥️ Kaley’s shiny: Love is Blind takes Minneapolis. Season 8, premiering on Netflix on Valentine’s Day, was filmed in my hometown! Get ready for lots of B-roll shots of the cherry in the spoon! Fun fact: a quarter of the new singles work in medicine, reflecting Minnesota’s status as a health care powerhouse, one of the factors that pushes Minnesota to the top of many quality of life rankings. Will Minnesota Nice make for good TV? We’ll see!

💿Megan’s shiny: I’m obsessed with a recent trend of creatively changing your Spotify playlist covers to create a unified gallery. From a box of chocolates to an eyeshadow palette to a mosaic of tiles, users are choosing a cohesive theme and then painstakingly going into each of their playlists to change the covers to match. The results are extremely aesthetically pleasing and fun.

Marketing we’re talking about: Kaley on Owala’s IRL Spectacle

During a meeting I was presenting in this week, I had to interrupt myself to put my phone on DND because it was blowing up so much. I quipped that either something big was happening in the world or my friends were just going crazy. After the meeting adjourned, I came back to 30+ notifications in my girl chat about Owala’s pop up at a San Antonio mall for a new product reveal. So I guess it was both?

If you’re unfamiliar with the “It” water bottle that’s knocking Stanley’s to the back of the cupboard, let me tell you, it has attained true cult status among my people. This week’s product release event brought out lines of fans thirsty for the new FreeSip Sway and FreeSip Tumblers.

And if you’re saying “what’s so novel about a tumbler that can fit into a cup holder?” You’d better keep it to yourself or you’ll be disinvited to Friendsgiving.

Kaley on a Tiny Act of Everyday Activism 🏀

This week, I learned that my new gym, Lifetime Fitness, somehow, in the year of 2025, doesn’t have women’s basketballs?!?

After searching for myself, I asked the two women at the service desk where the women’s balls were. Not only did neither of them know, they had no clue that women’s regulation balls are a different size than men’s. One said she never goes into the court area because “there’s always just men in there.” (Cue me dying a thousand deaths.)

The last time I confronted sexism in pickup basketball culture - and posted about it on TikTok - a bunch of men piped up in my comments to say I’d be accepted by the bros if only I was good enough.” 😑 Which is infuriating on many levels, but if women don’t feel welcome in spaces they are literally paying to be in (because they aren’t provided the right equipment or feel excluded by who typically frequents the space), how are they ever supposed to get good enough? Trick question: they're not.

Anyway, I ~~asked~~ told the people at Lifetime to buy some women’s basketballs.

The Opposite of Cynical

Let’s all watch Captain Von Thirst Trapp rip a Nazi flag

Punch Nazis,
Megan & Kaley