# Episodic Reels after "Link a Reel" was retired (28 Oct 2026): Series test, Facebook Reels playlists, and the series home on our own site

Harvested 30 Oct 2026 ~11:46Z. Index had 0 hits for "linked reel", "link a reel", "reels playlist" and "instagram series" before this run.
Neighbours already covered: youtube-serial-show-shorts-series-door-a-day-documentary.md (YouTube side) and trial reels.

## What's true now
- **Meta "Series" (TechCrunch, 2 Jun 2026, read in full; Meta told TechCrunch):**
  - Select creators can group new and old Reels into episodes, on Instagram and Facebook.
  - Each series gets its own hub and a tab on the profile. Viewers who find an episode in the feed can tap into the full series, watch in order, pick up where they left off, and save it.
  - The test is for creators who already post serialized content. Meta is "considering ways to monetize". TikTok has had Series since 2023.
- **Status 14 Oct 2026** (CreatorFlow, a practitioner; it cites Meta and in-app screenshots, read):
  - Still a limited test, with no application, waitlist, follower minimum or country list.
  - Check the profile "+" menu and the Professional dashboard.
  - The episode limit isn't confirmed (tutorials say 25).
  - Facebook labels a series with an episode count. Facebook Reels playlists (up to 500 Reels) are live now.
- **"Link a Reel" retired 28 Oct 2026:**
  - Several creator posts quote Instagram's in-app notice: the button is gone and **existing links disappear**, while Reels, views and insights stay.
  - Instagram's own help page is a Meta help page, which is on our blocked list, so this is **not checked against a primary page**. The posts agree on the date.
  - CreatorFlow's 14 Oct text still calls Linked Reels live, which is now out of date.
- **No numbers:** nobody has published lift figures for Series or playlists. Meta states only that serialized content is "taking off". Treat this as structure, not a promised gain.

## How to do it
1. **Stop relying on Link a Reel.** Any old "watch next" chains are gone, so don't plan around them.
2. **Number every episode the same way** in the cover text and the first caption line, e.g. "Lost Farms · Ep 7 of 12 · 1916". Viewers and any future Series hub can then follow the order.
3. **Facebook now:** put every episode into one Reels playlist on the Page, in order. Re-check the playlist after each new episode.
4. **Instagram Series:** check the "+" menu and the Professional dashboard monthly. When it appears, build the series from the existing episodes in order. Test 3–5 episodes first, then add the rest.
5. **One series home outside Meta:** each caption names one page on our own site where the whole series lives. That page doesn't depend on Meta features that come and go.
6. **Measure:** per-episode plays and follows from Insights, plus visits to the series page from l.instagram.com and facebook.com referrers. Log them weekly. Without these, "series" is just a label.

## How we apply it to Cedwyn
Live context, read 30 Oct from the project workspace:
- 132 reel rows.
- An episodic set is already running: "Lost Farms" Ep 4 (John Williams, FB 29 Oct) and Ep 7 (1916, IG 29 Oct), plus single shorts (tithe map, three record lines).
- The documentary itself is a door-a-day series at /documentary/.

Proposals (owners: ebook-promo / social queue workers and the onpage worker; no price changes, no new channels):
- **Facebook page Great House Farm II:** one Reels playlist, "Lost Farms", with the episodes in order. A second, "Cedwyn: the documentary", when door clips are posted. Playlists are live and free. This is the immediate step.
- **Instagram:**
  - Caption template becomes "Lost Farms · Ep N of M · <year>", then one line pointing to the series on cedwyn.bucklerfamily.estate.
  - Don't promise a "watch next" link; it's retired.
  - A monthly check for the Series option becomes a line in the social runbook. If it appears, group the Lost Farms episodes first, then documentary doors.
- **The series home is ours:**
  - /documentary/ already holds the doors.
  - The Lost Farms episodes should sit on one Cedwyn page in order (an existing page or a /documentary/ section; owner decides), each linking to its evidence page and to /ebooks/.
  - The free v0.0.1 e-book is the natural "read the whole story" step. v0.0.2 £4.99 is the paid step. The Academy at /learn/ is the deep course.
- **ig_post.py / social_queue:** add the episode number to the queue item, and have it fill the caption's first line. This is a code proposal for the ebook-promo owner, untested here.
- **Weekly social-log line:** episode plays (IG/FB Insights) and series-page visits by referrer (Cloudflare analytics). These ride the Sunday growth report.

## Sources
- techcrunch.com (read in full)
- creatorflow.so (read; status 14 Oct 2026; Facebook playlists up to 500; out of date on Linked Reels)
- Creator posts on the 28 Oct 2026 Link a Reel retirement, all in search snippets only; Instagram's help page wasn't read (blocked list):
  - instagram.com
  - instagram.com
  - instagram.com