November 2, 2026 · Blake Mischley
Instagram Tests 90-Minute Videos & Halloween Takes Over Campus Feeds | Reach Report No. 33
November 2nd, 2026 | The Weekly Reach Report | Instagram tests 90-minute videos, campus costume photos take over higher ed feeds, and Reddit rolls out a For You feed.
Good morning everyone!
Welcome back to the Reach Report.
Halloween is in the rearview, November 1 early deadlines just passed, and Election Day lands on Tuesday. On the platform side, Instagram is testing videos up to 90 minutes long, and Reddit just rolled out a For You feed. We’ll also be at AMA Higher Ed starting Sunday, showing off Instagram Takeovers live.
Let's dive in!
What’s New In Social Media
Instagram Tests 90-Minute Videos
Instagram is testing Features, a new upload type for videos up to 90 minutes long. It started in Brazil and is now expanding to a small group of US creators. A companion tool called Clips as Reels lets creators cut Reels from those longer videos, and each Reel links back to the full video. Most schools won’t have access yet, but it’s worth watching. Campus tours, info sessions, and convocation recaps that live on YouTube today could soon have a home on Instagram, with Reels doing the promotion.
Reddit Gets a For You Feed
Reddit started rolling out a For You feed on Oct 28. The home screen now splits into two tabs. For You mixes the communities you’ve joined with posts picked from your interests, and Following sticks to only the communities you’ve joined.
What’s New Across Higher Ed
Undergrad Enrollment Growth Slows
Preliminary National Student Clearinghouse data released Oct 29 shows undergraduate enrollment up just 0.6% this fall, down from 2.4% growth last year. Community colleges led at 1.2%, four-year schools held flat, and master’s enrollment fell 3.7%. Computer science took the biggest hit, down 12.4% at four-year schools, while engineering and health professions each grew more than 6%. Final numbers come out in January.
Weekly Higher Ed Social Snapshot
Here's how higher ed accounts performed this past week. Averages across the board, who grew fastest, who got the most engagement, and the posts that pulled the biggest numbers.
Weekly Social Media Benchmark Averages
How the average higher ed account performed over the past 7 days on each platform.
| Metric | TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| % Follower Growth | +0.23% | +0.03% | +0.60% |
| Engagement Rate | 1.8% | 0.2% | 4.0% |
| Posts Made | 6.0 | 6.9 | 2.9 |
Top Growers This Week
The accounts that gained the most followers over the past 7 days, ranked by % follower growth.
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. @cuwisconsin +3.5% +474 followers | 1. @ncatsuaggies +1.8% +2,144 followers | 1. @universityofvictoria +13.4% +1,338 followers |
| 2. @easternuniversity +3.2% +497 followers | 2. @Livingstone1879 +1.6% +182 followers | 2. @uofmemphis +6.6% +1,000 followers |
| 3. @york_college_cuny +2.9% +225 followers | 3. @HussonU +1.3% +251 followers | 3. @PurdueUniversity +5.1% +174 followers |
Top Engagers This Week
The accounts whose posts from the past 7 days earned the highest average engagement rate — engagements (likes, comments, shares) on a post as a % of followers, averaged across the week’s posts. Minimum 3 posts.
| TikTok | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1. @cuwisconsin 287.2% 361,140 engagements | 1. @OberlinCollege 2.0% 1,795 engagements | 1. @uofmemphis 200.2% 161,177 engagements |
| 2. @belmontabbey 36.9% 45,606 engagements | 2. @Bowdoin 1.8% 1,527 engagements | 2. @universityofvictoria 29.4% 26,502 engagements |
| 3. @fiskuniversity 22.7% 30,739 engagements | 3. @sewanee 1.6% 2,246 engagements | 3. @kennesawstate 17.3% 11,425 engagements |
Top Instagram Posts This Week by Engagement Rate
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Top Facebook Posts This Week by Engagement Rate
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Top TikTok Posts This Week by Engagement Rate
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Trending Hashtags in Higher Ed
Halloween took over higher ed feeds this week — schools posting campus costume contests, mascot dress-ups and ghost-sheet photo ops saw the biggest spikes as spooky season hit its peak.
| 1. #happyhalloween | ▲ 4,700% |
| 2. #ghost | ▲ 2,700% |
| 3. #costume | ▲ 2,200% |
Blake’s Bookmarks
A few posts that stopped my scroll this week and why I think they worked.
Syracuse Obsession: One Wish WillowThis was a cinematic masterpiece, and it might be one of my favorite pieces of content I’ve seen all year. It feels like a video you should have to pay to see. It blends horror movies from over the years into a unique storyline featuring their mascot, Otto. |  |
 | DWTSI’ll be honest, I didn’t realize how big Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) was until recently. It also seems to be having a surge in popularity, to the point that if you aren’t keeping up with it, maybe you should be. A lot of schools are posting about it, and it shows how in tune they are with pop culture. |
Costumes on CampusI really want to call out the simple, candid photos of students in their costumes around campus. It’s such an authentic way to highlight so many different members of the campus community. |  |
What’s New At Reach
Meet Us At AMA!
If you’ll be at AMA Higher Ed in Aurora, Colorado, starting Sunday, Nov 8, we’d love to meet you! I’ll be there with my colleague Joel Renner, and we’re grateful to be joined by our great advisor, Nikki Sunstrum. You can find us at booth #614.
We’ll be demoing our soon-to-be-released feature, Instagram Takeovers, live at the booth. No more handing out passwords. Set the guardrails and let students take over your account for the day. It’s officially in early access now, and we’ll be using it to run a takeover of our own @higheredsocialmedia Instagram during the conference. Send me a note if you plan to be there. It would be amazing to meet you!
Kanban Revamp: View Settings
Creating ideas keeps getting more customizable! Every view now has View Settings, where you can change how your kanban board is grouped and pick which columns are visible. We’re also improving the cards on your board. You can now choose which fields show on each card and edit them right there, without opening the idea editor.
That's it for this week.
I want to hear what you thought. What was actually useful, what you skipped, what you'd want more of. If there's a section missing, a metric you'd rather see, or a post you think belongs in Blake's Bookmarks, send it over. Just hit reply, I read all of it.
And if something in here was useful, forward it to whoever on your team needs it.
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