Instagram has launched a new feature that, like the TikTok app, allows users to create short videos that can be shared with friends and followers and can also be seen while browsing the app.
This is the latest feature of Instagram to spend more time in this app and turn Instagram into a video entertainment platform.
While the future of TikTok is uncertain, Instagram hopes to attract users with its new feature called Reels.
Of course, this is not the first time that Facebook has imitated TikTok. However, due to the extreme popularity of this application, Instagram action was predictable.
If you remember, Facebook imitated video stories from Snapshot a few years ago.
Reels feature is available in more than 50 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia, and is available for Android and iOS.
Since the controversy and fringe around the TikTok app have peaked, Instagram has now chosen the best opportunity to release this feature officially.
Of course, this is not the first time that Facebook has imitated TikTok. However, due to the extreme popularity of this application, Instagram action was predictable.
Users can create 15-second videos in Reels and add popular music to them. Also, they can apply a set of filters and effects to videos.
To make the videos made in Reels more visible, Instagram also changed the layout of the Explorer section.
Like the For You page on TikTok, the Reels videos appear as a horizontal scroll bar at the top of the Explorer page.
Reels feature is available for Private or Public profiles. However, having a public profile will be effective for more visibility.
For those who want to share videos with their friends, videos created by private accounts are only displayed on the front page and stories.
Reels does not need a new application, and it is possible to use it completely from within the Instagram app.
The biggest difference between Story and Reels goes back to how the two were shared.
When you upload a Reel, this video is automatically shared in the new Reels section of the Explorer tab.
All the Reels you make will be visible in a specific part of your profile (just like IGTV).
If you have used the TikTok app, you know that the main difference between this app and Instagram is that the main feed of TikTok to users is not followers, but you see videos that are automatically For You.
While new Instagram users have to work hard to attract followers; The new TikTok user can get a lot of attention when their video reaches the For You page.
In this way, Instagram tries to overcome its main weakness, creating a platform for novice content producers with Reels.
The introduction of this feature by Instagram comes when Trump has raised the possibility of blocking the TikTok app in the United States.
Also, Microsoft has expressed interest in buying TikTok. bytedance, the owner of TikTok, misjudged Facebook and accused the company of stealing its innovation.
But Instagram product manager Robby Stein says that although TikTok has popular short videos, the two products are different.
“I think TikTok deserves a ton of credit for popularizing formats in this space, and it’s just great to work,” Stein told The Verge.
“But at the end of the day, no two products are exactly alike, and ours are not either.”
That’s a familiar line to people who remember when Instagram first launched Stories in 2016, and the company was accused of creating a Snapchat clone.
Stein said that his team received it. “very similar feedback when we launched Stories.”
But Instagram Stories quickly surpassed Snapchat in daily users and has continued to be a massively successful product.
That history of success is one of the strongest reasons for Instagram’s team to think it can pull Reels off.
creating easy-to-use technology for whoever wants to make a video.
When opening Instagram to make a Reel, people will be able to slide to a new section of the camera that comes with an assortment of tools.
Reels can be recorded either at once or as a series of clips, or people can upload videos from their photo gallery.
The camera’s new features are similar to TikTok’s, with options to mess with speed, apply special effects, set a timer, and add audio.