Meta has shared new engagement and usage insights for Facebook, Instagram and Threads, highlighting the role of short-form video, personalised recommendations and fresh content in driving platform growth.
The updates were disclosed alongside the company’s third-quarter 2026 earnings report and offer creators, marketers and businesses a clearer picture of how audiences are engaging across Meta’s platforms.
Instagram Sees Record Engagement
Instagram recorded an all-time high in global time spent per user during the third quarter, driven by growth across Reels and Feed, according to Meta.
Meta Chief Financial Officer Susan Li said improvements to Instagram’s recommendation systems increased Reels viewing time by more than 4% in the quarter. The changes include technology that evaluates sequences of Reels rather than ranking each video independently.
The company also reported that nearly 45% of recommended Reels were less than 24 hours old, up more than 11 percentage points from the previous quarter.
The figures reflect Instagram’s growing emphasis on original and timely content. The platform has introduced measures to limit the reach of aggregators and accounts that repost other creators’ work without adding meaningful value.
For creators, the findings suggest that publishing original content consistently and quickly responding to emerging trends could help improve visibility, particularly as audiences increasingly engage with new Reels on their first day.
Facebook Reels Drives Video Growth
Facebook also recorded an all-time high in Reels viewing time during the quarter, with engagement growing by double digits year over year.
Li attributed the growth partly to improvements in content recommendations. Meta has introduced a new generative retrieval system that uses semantic representations of content to identify relevant posts, including those that have not yet accumulated substantial engagement.
The technology has been deployed across roughly a quarter of Facebook Feed views from accounts users do not follow and half of Reels views, according to Li. Meta said the system increased Reels watch time by 1%.
The company also doubled the amount of viewing and engagement history its ranking model can consider for Facebook Reels in the United States, generating another 1% increase in watch time.
These changes are intended to make recommendations more relevant and personalised, helping users discover content beyond accounts they already follow.
What the Updates Mean for Creators and Advertisers
Meta’s latest figures highlight the growing importance of video and recommendation-driven discovery across its platforms. Creators may have more opportunities to reach audiences beyond their existing followers, while businesses can use these engagement patterns to inform their content strategies.
For marketers, the emphasis on fresh content and personalised recommendations reinforces the value of producing original videos that quickly capture attention and are relevant to specific audiences.
However, higher platform engagement does not automatically guarantee better business results. Brands and creators still need to track meaningful outcomes, including audience retention, conversions and returns on content investment.
Meta’s disclosures indicate that improvements to its recommendation systems remain central to its strategy for sustaining engagement and strengthening the appeal of Facebook and Instagram to users, creators and advertisers.
Source: Meta
