Instagram has recently rolled out its ‘Reels’ feature, which is similar to its rival TikTok. While TikTok is going through a bumpy road these days, the app’s popularity amongst its users remains intact and solid. With its short-form video creation, editing, and sharing tools, the app is hugely popular and widely used all over the globe.
When Instagram introduced ‘Reels’ as a feature to its app, it meant to allow the users to create short-form videos of a maximum of 15-seconds duration. However, early reviews and user feedback suggested and heavily criticized Instagram to be so strict about its video length, and now, Instagram has taken this into account and increased the length of the videos. However, TikTok allows its users to create videos up to 1 minute, but Instagram has maximized its video length up to 30 seconds.
This is a good approach because if Instagram allows users to create videos of 1-minute length on Reels, there are high chances that users will start repurposing their TikTok videos of 1-minute time duration on Reels. It seems that Instagram is trying to encourage people to create their own creative content for Reels.
Other features that Instagram is going to work on is to extend the timer and to provide video editing tools to trim and delete sequences from videos easily.
Instagram has tried hard to bring in a TikTok like feature on its platform, however, it has failed to realize that TikTok is a complete application and an entire social network. Reels, on the other hand, is a very small version of TikTok crammed in an already large application, Instagram, as a feature, amongst a wide array of several other features like IGTV, Instagram Shopping, Live, etc.
TikTok has some amazing video editing tools and it supports its users with features like duets, or Family Pairing parental controls. It also provides tech support to its users and helps them choose music for their videos that synchronize with their content.
Instagram Reels lacks all these things, and video sharing options are also quite ambiguous. The posting of Reels is also quite confusing by design on Instagram, and the platform needs to work hard to provide a more clear and easier to use feature if they want to gain traction with Reels.
Some big celebrity names have already started using Reels, but for the masses, Instagram has to bring some more modifications to Reels.
With the new changes, hopefully, Reels will get a better response soon. The 30-second Reels feature has already rolled out, and the editing tools are also live on Instagram now. The timer extension will come in a couple of days. All these features are available in fifty countries as yet where Reels has been launched. Hopefully, with newer modifications, it will release globally too.
Read next: Instagram is Working on a New DM API for Brands
When Instagram introduced ‘Reels’ as a feature to its app, it meant to allow the users to create short-form videos of a maximum of 15-seconds duration. However, early reviews and user feedback suggested and heavily criticized Instagram to be so strict about its video length, and now, Instagram has taken this into account and increased the length of the videos. However, TikTok allows its users to create videos up to 1 minute, but Instagram has maximized its video length up to 30 seconds.
This is a good approach because if Instagram allows users to create videos of 1-minute length on Reels, there are high chances that users will start repurposing their TikTok videos of 1-minute time duration on Reels. It seems that Instagram is trying to encourage people to create their own creative content for Reels.
Other features that Instagram is going to work on is to extend the timer and to provide video editing tools to trim and delete sequences from videos easily.
Instagram has tried hard to bring in a TikTok like feature on its platform, however, it has failed to realize that TikTok is a complete application and an entire social network. Reels, on the other hand, is a very small version of TikTok crammed in an already large application, Instagram, as a feature, amongst a wide array of several other features like IGTV, Instagram Shopping, Live, etc.
TikTok has some amazing video editing tools and it supports its users with features like duets, or Family Pairing parental controls. It also provides tech support to its users and helps them choose music for their videos that synchronize with their content.
Instagram Reels lacks all these things, and video sharing options are also quite ambiguous. The posting of Reels is also quite confusing by design on Instagram, and the platform needs to work hard to provide a more clear and easier to use feature if they want to gain traction with Reels.
Some big celebrity names have already started using Reels, but for the masses, Instagram has to bring some more modifications to Reels.
With the new changes, hopefully, Reels will get a better response soon. The 30-second Reels feature has already rolled out, and the editing tools are also live on Instagram now. The timer extension will come in a couple of days. All these features are available in fifty countries as yet where Reels has been launched. Hopefully, with newer modifications, it will release globally too.
Read next: Instagram is Working on a New DM API for Brands
