iWorld
New features on Instagram Reels: Trends, editing and gifts
Mumbai: Instagram, a home for creators, has announced the improvements to Reels — to empower people to do what they do best. Below are the details of their features.
Find out what’s trending on Reels
Creators are always looking to discover fresh content ideas, so now we’re adding a dedicated destination for you to be inspired by the latest trends. You’ll be able to see the top trending songs on Reels, see how many times the audio has been used, tap in to use it or save the audio for yourself.
You’ll also be able to see what the top trending topics and hashtags are on Reels to inform your own content. For example, the festival season might be trending earlier than you think. We’ve found that people actually start sharing their #coachella content before the festival even begins. These are the types of insights you can tap into with the new trends destination.
Making it easier to edit Reels
We’re making it easier for you to edit your reels on Instagram by bringing together video clips, audio, stickers, and text on a unified editing screen. This makes it easier to align and time elements of your reel to the right moments in a more visual way. Keep an eye out for even more exciting tools to come as we continue to invest in more ways to make editing your reels simpler and easier. This is available globally, across both iOS and Android devices.
Updates to reels insights
We’re improving Reels insights to help you better understand how your content is performing. We’re adding two new metrics: total watch time and average watch time – and making it easier to see your insights while viewing your reels directly
Total watch time captures the total amount of time your reel was played, including any time spent replaying the reel. Average watch time captures the average amount of time spent playing your reel, calculated by dividing watch time by the number of total plays. For example, if your average watch time is 17 seconds, out of everyone who watched your Reel they watched an average of 17 seconds. This will help you better understand where people are being engaged or where you may need to create a stronger hook to have viewers stay longer.
“ The number of views is just one part of assessing the performance of your Reels. It’s really important to go in and understand how your Reels are performing based on specific variables. I’m often testing different hooks or opening lines. Seeing the watch time will help me understand where viewers dropped off and then I can adjust the hook from there. Insights help me bridge the gap between me as a creator and my audience. I may think a video is amazing, but seeing watch time will allow me to better understand where my viewers are engaged.” –@sckachi, comedy creator in LA
“Sometimes I’ll reshoot a video based on video insights. For example, I learned that people stopped watching if I was holding a product in my beauty tutorials for too long so I tailored my editing to make these scenes shorter and keep viewers engaged,” said LA-based beauty creator @schaebreezy_.
We’re also adding a new way to see how your reels are contributing to your growth. You’ll now receive a notification with new followers from your reels.
Improving and expanding gifts on Reels
We’re excited to share our plan to bring gifts to even more creators with upcoming expansions to more markets, including Australia, Canada, France, Mexico, New Zealand and the UK, in the coming weeks.
We’re also adding a new feature to show you which fans have sent you a gift so you can recognise your supporters. If you tap the heart icon next to your supporters, they’ll get a notification that you’ve seen and recognised their gift, providing an even stronger sense of connection between you and your fans.
Creators like you inspire people and shape everyday culture. We’re committed to building more products to help you grow and thrive on Instagram, and today’s updates are just a few of the ways we’re investing in your success. Learn more about how we’re supporting creators across Instagram and Facebook.
iWorld
Why Peaky Blinders is one of television’s biggest hits that still deserves more attention
Six seasons, multiple awards and the release of Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man bring the Shelby saga back into the spotlight
In the crowded universe of streaming content, only a handful of shows manage to leave a lasting cultural footprint. Peaky Blinders is overwhelmingly considered one of the biggest global hits of the past decade. Yet many viewers still haven’t fully explored the dark, gripping world of the Shelby family.
Originally produced for the UK’s BBC and later finding a massive global audience through Netflix, the series quietly grew from a British period drama into a worldwide streaming phenomenon.
Created by Steven Knight, the show follows the rise of the Shelby crime family in post-First World War Birmingham. What begins as a gritty street-gang story gradually expands into a sweeping narrative about ambition, politics, power and survival.
At the centre of the saga is Thomas Shelby, portrayed with extraordinary depth by Cillian Murphy. The casting of Murphy is widely regarded as perfect for the role. With piercing eyes, restrained dialogue and an almost hypnotic screen presence, he transforms Shelby into one of the most unforgettable characters in modern screen storytelling.
Murphy’s brilliance lies in his restraint. He rarely shouts or performs theatrically. Instead, a quiet stare, a calculated pause or a subtle shift in expression conveys the emotional storms within the character. Beneath the ruthless gang leader is a war veteran carrying trauma, guilt and loneliness. Murphy captures this complexity with remarkable precision, making Thomas Shelby both terrifying and deeply human.
Beyond its central performance, Peaky Blinders stands out for its unfiltered portrayal of reality. The show does not romanticise crime. Instead, it exposes the harsh social conditions of early 20th-century Britain, from poverty and class struggle to political extremism and the psychological scars left by war.
The series also presents powerful female characters who hold their own within the Shelby empire. Polly Gray, played by Helen McCrory, is the strategic backbone of the family and one of the most formidable figures in the story. Women in the series shape decisions, influence power structures and challenge the rigid social norms of the time.
Across six seasons, the narrative grows dramatically in scale. What begins in the smoky streets of Birmingham evolves into a story involving political conspiracies, fascism and international criminal networks.
The series has also earned significant critical acclaim. It won the BAFTA Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2018 and multiple National Television Awards for Best Drama, cementing its reputation as one of Britain’s most celebrated modern shows.
Another defining feature of the series is its iconic music. The show’s opening theme, Red Right Hand by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, became instantly recognisable and widely associated with the Shelby universe. Combined with a powerful soundtrack featuring artists such as Arctic Monkeys and Radiohead, the music helped shape the show’s dark, stylish identity and became hugely popular among fans.
And the Shelby story is not over yet.
In fact, its legacy is unfolding right now. The long-awaited feature-length continuation, Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man, was released on March 6, 2026, bringing the Shelby universe from streaming screens to cinemas and giving fans a new chapter in the saga.
For viewers who have not yet stepped into this world, the timing could not be better.
Six gripping seasons are ready to binge on Netflix. A new film has just arrived in theatres. And at the heart of it all stands one of the most magnetic performances in modern drama by Cillian Murphy.
So if Peaky Blinders has been sitting on your watchlist for years, this weekend is your moment.
So, by order of the Peaky fookin’ Blinders, consider this your cue to finally step into the ruthless world of Thomas Shelby. Pour yourself a drink, clear your schedule and press the play button. Because when the Peaky Blinders give an order, you listen.
