Instagram Opens Reels API Access to Third-Party Platforms

Brands will soon have more options for posting Instagram Reels to their accounts, and managing related activity, with Meta announcing that it’s launching its Reels API for external use.

API access enables platforms like Hootsuite and Sprout Social to provide cross-platform posting and analytics capacity within a single dashboard, which can make it much easier to keep track of your various social posts and schedules in one place.

And soon, Instagram Reels will also be available as an option in these tools.

As explained by Meta:

“Beginning tomorrow, June 28th, 2022, we will begin introducing Reels to several endpoints on the Instagram Platform. We are always looking to improve our content publishing and consumption experiences, whether people use Instagram natively, or via a third-party. After consistently hearing from our developer community that Reels is a top priority, we are excited to introduce Reels to a number of the endpoints that you may already be familiar with.”

The new API will support content scheduling, insights, moderation, hashtag search and more within the Reels element.

Reels is a top priority for Meta, with data showing that Reels content now makes up more than 20% of the time that people spend on Instagram, while 45% of Instagram accounts now interact with a Reel at least once a week.

That also makes it a key priority for brands, and the added capacity to manage your Reels content within your broader social media management tool will make it much easier to add Reels into your social content mix.

There’s no official word on when these new processes will be available in each app, but Instagram says that the rollout of the new Reels API will begin with 25% of Instagram user accounts today, before becoming fully accessible by July 6th.