Carousel post
A carousel post is one post made of several images or video slides that people swipe through in order. An Instagram carousel holds up to 10 items. Threads, LinkedIn, TikTok and Pinterest each have their own version and limits, and X has none.
Carousel post
Example
Example: a five-slide carousel walks through a recipe, one step per slide, with the ingredient list on slide one.
Related documents
Related terms
- Hook
- Call to action
- What is alt text? Alt text meaning for social posts
In Weekbird
Weekbird schedules Instagram carousels of up to 10 items and checks each network's version of a post against that network's limits.
What is a carousel post
A carousel bundles slides into a single post with one caption. The first slide shows in the feed; the rest wait for a swipe. That makes the first slide your hook and the last slide your call to action.
Instagram carousel and other networks
Check the network's current specs before you design, since slide counts differ. On Instagram, images in a carousel are cropped to the first image's aspect ratio, and a Reel cannot be one of the slides.
| Network | Format | Items per post |
|---|---|---|
| Carousel of images and videos | Up to 10 | |
| Threads | Carousel of images and videos | 2 to 20 |
| Multi-image post | 2 to 20 images | |
| Document post (PDF, PPTX, DOCX) | Up to 300 pages, 100 MB | |
| TikTok | Photo post | Up to 35 photos |
| Carousel Pin | 2 to 5 images | |
| X | No carousel | Up to 4 photos |
Example: a seven-slide outline
Example: a bakery explains its sourdough in seven slides.
1. Hook: "Why our sourdough takes 36 hours"
2. Flour and water, hour 0
3. The starter goes in
4. Overnight rest, with a photo of the dough
5. Shaping by hand
6. Out of the oven
7. Call to action: "Saturday loaves, order by Friday noon"
The same outline fits a Threads or LinkedIn carousel. On X, which takes up to 4 photos per post, cut it to four slides or turn it into a thread.
Related terms
- Hook: the opening that earns the swipe.
- CTA: the action you ask for on the last slide.
- Alt text: a description of each slide for screen readers.
Use it in your week
Weekbird schedules Instagram carousels of up to 10 items. You write a version of the post for each network, and Weekbird checks it against that network's limits before you schedule it. To cut one tall image into slides, use the carousel splitter.