Just in case that algorithmic focus on sends via Instagram wasn't emphasis enough, its chief Adam Mosseri has again made the same advice for creators. In his latest advice clip, he needs them to concentrate on making their content shareable.
According to Mosseri, where in the app now more users engage via DMs rather than feed posts, Instagram has started actively look for amplifying the content that leads more to sharing behavior i.e. posts encouraging people to tap on the "Send" icon and forward the post to friends.

According to Mosseri:

Don't force it as a creator, but if you can, when you're creating, think about creating content that people would want to send to a friend, to someone that they care about, and it will help your reach over time.

Instagram's also trying to drive the point home with a new sends display counts in the app, which has been rolling out to more users over the past few weeks.
Instagram has been experimenting with this for nearly a year with a select few but now it appears to be rolled out, and users are noticing share counts popping up in posts within the app.

So, sends are obviously what the company wants creators to concentrate on, but how exactly do you create content that triggers more shares to DMs?

From Harvard Business Review; it tracked social media responses to 65,000 news-related articles placed on news sites, and the secret is to create an emotional response from your content.

Which may not surprise you, though details here are important.

"As the report states:

"The most interesting finding here is that articles with a large number of comments evoked high-arousal emotions, such as anger or happiness, and paired them with low-dominance emotions whereby people felt less in control, such as fear. Social sharing was very connected to feelings of high dominance, whereby the reader felt in control, such as inspiration or admiration."

For example, a "high dominance" emotion is when you can actually have some degree of control over how you respond to it, so that you cognitively can, in fact, choose how you're feeling, as opposed to a "low dominance" response, which is outside your control, like fear.
So, if you want people to comment, which has traditionally been the old motivation for hyper-boosting algorithmic reach, you need emotionally charged concepts-stuff that inflames a reaction, like anger or fear (see: the whole media landscape).

But if you want to drive shares, inspiring, interesting, and funny content is your ticket.

Positive content is primed for social sharing. Our study found that high admiration and happiness strongly correlate with high dominance. This makes sense because the motivation to share upbeat content may be more based on self-presentation. Passing on a positive emotional experience makes others feel good, which in turn makes the sharer look good. Including an element of surprise can help to magnify the content's positive valence.

This might make sense if you look at your own sharing behaviors, so if you're looking for a way to hook into the concepts being outlined by Mosseri, this could help.

That also aligns with the broader shift in focus at Meta to more positive user experiences. Meta is looking to dilute politics and news content in its apps, in response to negative user feedback, as well as broader political blowback for the company, while on Threads, its Twitter-like experiment, it is also clearly stated that it wants it to be a more positive user experience.

The overall emphasis, with Reels also becoming a bigger part of the engagement puzzle, makes sense in terms of Meta trying to shift the focus onto better things.

So, if you want to win in IG in 2024, this is how you do it. Creative concepts are never easy to come by, but if you want to align yourself with the advice being given by the head of Instagram himself, this is the way.