The First Screen Sort Sheet
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Mathew PaquetChecklist · 4 min read

The First Screen Sort Sheet

Sort your last nine posts into three piles (first screen, maybe, tab two), then turn every tab-two post into something that can sit on the first screen.

01 What sits on the first screen in Meta's tests

Meta is testing apps that open on video instead of the feed. It's a test, not a launch: on Facebook it started outside the U.S. (TechCrunch found it in India, Meta confirmed Indonesia), people in it can opt out, and Meta says it will explore bringing it to the U.S. next year. On Instagram it's a setting the user turns on, in a small number of countries. Here is what each opening screen shows:

Facebook: a full-screen video. Everything else lives in the classic feed, one tab over. Instagram: your Stories in the row at the top, and a vertical video in the feed below it. Slide over and you're back in the regular feed. Photos: a maybe. In last year's version, Instagram's head Adam Mosseri said photos from people you follow would still show up, but Meta never showed how. Messages: not on the screen, but right next to it. Mosseri has said one of the most important signals Instagram uses in ranking is sends per reach: out of everyone who saw your post, how many sent it to a friend.

What Meta hasn't said. How many people are in either test, what it does to anyone's reach, and whether ads change. There's no data on any of that yet.

02 The three piles

Pull up your last nine posts and put each one in a pile. First screen: vertical videos and Stories. Maybe: photos. Tab two: everything else, usually the menu, the hours, the prices and the links.

Worked example, a made-up small bakery:

Post Pile
One vertical video of the oven at five in the morning, plus the bakery's Stories First screen
Five photos of bread Maybe
A carousel with the menu Tab two
A carousel with the holiday hours Tab two
A link to online ordering Tab two

Look at where the work went. The menu, the hours and the ordering link are the posts customers actually need, and they're all in tab two.

My last nine posts
Post | Format (video / Story / photo / carousel / link) | Pile
1. [ ] | [ ] | [FIRST SCREEN / MAYBE / TAB TWO]
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
First screen: [COUNT] Maybe: [COUNT] Tab two: [COUNT]
03 Turn tab-two posts into first-screen posts

Each tab-two post can become something that sits on the first screen. The bakery's three:

The menu becomes a twenty-second video walking along the counter. The holiday hours become a Story the week before, saved as a highlight so it stays on the profile. The ordering link becomes a video of an order going out the door, with the link in the profile.
Rewrite one tab-two post
Tab-two post: [THE MENU / THE HOURS / THE PRICES / THE LINK]
What a customer needs from it: [ONE LINE]
First-screen version: [A SHORT VERTICAL VIDEO OF ... / A STORY ON ...]
Where it stays findable: [PINNED POST / STORY HIGHLIGHT / LINK IN PROFILE]
04 Four moves for this week
Make your tab-two posts easy to find. Pin the menu, the hours, the prices and the proof on your profile, and put them in your Story highlights. Anyone who visits your profile should get the answer in one tap.
Cut the vertical version of what you already make. The oven, the pour, the before and after, the photo you'd have posted with ten seconds of how it was made. Shoot it vertical from the start: the Feed takes square and four by five posts, but the opening screen in these tests is full-screen, top to bottom. One a week is a real start.
Keep Stories for the people who already follow you. On Instagram, in this test, the Stories row is still on top.
Make one thing a week someone would send to a friend. Not a promo. A tip, a price comparison, something funny from the counter.

Two things to watch. Whether Instagram's setting quietly becomes the default, and whether Facebook actually brings this to the U.S. next year. Either one means the sort above matters for more of your customers.

Sources

TechCrunch: Facebook tests going Reels-first in India Social Media Today: Instagram tests option to open to Reels Meta: In India, Instagram debuts a Reels-first experience for its mobile app Search Engine Journal: Why sends matter more than ever on Instagram
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Sort your last nine posts into first screen, maybe and tab two, and turn one tab-two post into a vertical video or a Story this week.

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