Instagram’s Tik Tok-like Reel launches in Brazil
If you’ve been living under a digital rock and don’t know it yet, TikTok has become one of the most popular social media apps in the world, especially among Gen Z and the younger Millenials. And so as expected, Facebook, or more specifically Instagram, is now launching something similar to the app on its own platform. The name of the feature is Reel and it lets you record 15-second clips which you can then share to the rest of the world.
According to Tech Crunch, the first market where Reel is launching is in Brazil. Instagram users in the South American country will now be able to record themselves in various shenanigans with accompanying music and then uploading them onto the app. If you’ve previously used TikTok, then this should be a cinch. But if you haven’t yet and you’re curious to try it out, the learning curve shouldn’t be that high.
Instagram director of product management Robby Stein did not shy away from the TikTok question. He admits that both Musically and TikTok deserve the credit in terms of making this kind of content and platform popular. But he does claim that sharing video with music is not really a unique idea and so they wanted to give their current users a chance to try out this really popular format but on their own platform. They’re also exploring how this can be a “unique format” for the brand.
Brazil was a natural choice for the first country to try out Reels because they have a big Instagram market, they love to listen to music, and they actually have a great creator community. TikTok is also not that big yet there so it’s the perfect place to try out something new. The challenge tough would be to get people to make “storyboard social entertainment” which is unlike the “spontaneous” video they can do on Storeies when they feel like it.
Reels is in Instagram Stories as a mode next to Boomerang and Super Zoom. You can record with silence o you can choose to add your song from their library or to borrow from others’ by searching through hashtags. No news yet as to when and where they will be expanding to next after Brazil.
