At WAVES 2025, Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram started his session with the evolution of Instagram and India’s role in it. “When I first started at Meta—then Facebook—data was expensive in India, and networks were slow. Over the last 5 to 8 years, that’s changed dramatically. As data costs dropped, time spent online skyrocketed, especially with short-form video. Instagram, which started as a feed of square photos, is now mostly video-driven. In fact, more time is spent watching videos on Instagram than anything else—and this is even more true in India. India’s changes in usage patterns are leading indicators for global trends.”
On what India is doing right, Mosseri revealed, “We see much higher sharing, more time spent, and greater engagement from Indian users compared to many other regions. India’s diversity in language and culture is reflected in its content. The country has led in areas like subtitle translation and audio dubbing. There’s a lot the world can learn from how India bridges linguistic and cultural gaps across states and languages.”
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Addressing how Instagram ranks content types, Mosseri emphasized, “We don’t try to boost one type of content or suppress another. But we do observe trends—video, particularly short-form, is generally more engaging than static photos. It gets more likes, shares, and watch time. So on average, it ranks higher. That said, for some creators, static content performs better. Instagram is a diverse ecosystem—there’s room for everything from reels to poetry pages.”
On building a content strategy, he pointed out, “If you’re using Instagram professionally, be clear about your goal. Are you building a community, selling something, or advocating for a cause? Align your content with that goal, but make sure it still resonates. For me, I try to explain what Instagram is doing and why, in a way that’s engaging and transparent.”
Reflecting on personal content, he said, “Early on, people didn’t care much for personal posts from me. But as my following grew, interest in personal updates increased. Now I balance it—most of my content is still about features and creator tips, but I’ll sprinkle in some personal moments to humanize the platform.”
Speaking about the content creation process, he said, “We often just put the camera on and talk—like about the Close Friends feature. We might do one or two takes. Even if there are small mistakes, we leave them in. If it’s too polished, it doesn’t feel real, and people don’t respond as well.”
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