Instagram Stories were radically different in 2016 than the reels of today. They were far more personalized (less algorithmic public content), slideshow-like updates. Ten second max video clips, with most being just images. Ephemeral as well, where they'd get removed in 24 hours.

It's not the same at all.

And that’s not even close to the short form 90 second micro dramas that are already super popular in China and are ramping up elsewhere. And this category is now dominated by AI