TikTok’s short video battle against Reels looks set to intensify. After Instagram essentially copies TikTok’s 15- to 60-second short video feature, marking them as Reels, the company is now considering converting all Instagram videos to Reels. What would that mean …?
Rollers differ from normal Instagram videos in three main ways:
- Creators have access to a music library, plus filters and editing tools
- Other users can include your original audio in their videos
- Other users can create a remix that includes your reel
Kind of appropriate that Instagram has booted a TikTok feature that allows users to boot other videos.
Social media specialist Matt Navarra saw Instagram testing the feature.
The parent company Meta confirmed the test to TechCrunch.
We are testing this feature as part of our efforts to simplify and enhance the video experience on Instagram.
Meta also offers Facebook users the option to convert their videos to Reels.
The move is driven by the growing popularity of small-sized videos, with viewing time more than doubling since last year. Rollers, in particular, are a growth trick because each published roll provides source material for other users to create more rollers.
TNW suggests this is a Meta panic move.
It’s hard to see that Instagram makes every video on its platform a roll that isn’t a response to TikTok’s growing influence. Indeed, Meta is panicking. Its main competitor is to attract a younger audience that spends much more time on the app than yours […]
On a purely numerical level, Instagram is ahead of TikTok. The first application has about 1.4 billion users, while the second 1 billion. On the surface, that looks good. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. The real problem is who uses the apps and how they use them.
Last year, the number of TikTok Gen Z users surpassed that of Instagram. To rethink this, the Meta app is becoming old-fashioned among young people.
This is not only a problem because it hinders future growth, but because Instagram had to be Meta’s path to young people, as Facebook has become the social network for seniors.
And although marketers still prefer Instagram to TikTok, that won’t last long … Currently, the average time they spend on Instagram globally is 28 minutes. At TikTok, this happens in 52 minutes. These are levels of commitment that cannot be ignored.
Perhaps Meta’s biggest hope is that TikTok will be removed from the App Store …
Photo: Denise Jans / Unsplash
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