Instagram launched its TikTok competitor ‘Reels’ Wednesday, as a way for creators to make bite-size content. But will creators make the jump?
Instagram launched Reels, it’s competing product to the massively popular TikTok, on Wednesday — letting users edit together 15-second video clips alongside music and dozens of camera effects. But does it stand a chance? Creators and experts say it’s complicated. Instagram launched Reels at seemingly the perfect time. TikTok is currently facing heat in the U. S. over security concerns and its connection to China. President Trump also threatened to ban the app in the country last week if it didn’t make a deal with an American seller by a September deadline (Microsoft is reportedly in talks to buy the app). After the news last week, creators started livestreaming their goodbyes to TikTok, while also promoting their other social media accounts. Enter Instagram Reels. “The timing happens to be coincidental in some ways,” said Vishal Shah, Instagram’s head of product, about the launch of Reels in a press conference Wednesday. “The pitch for new creators is that Reels is a way for you to get discovered. It’s a way to find a global audience.” The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Instagram was paying TikTok creators to try out Reels, as the rivalry between the two apps intensified. Reels is not Instagram’s first attempt at competing with TikTok, which is the world’s fastest-growing app with over 2 billion downloads. Instagram shut down the Lasso app last month after it failed to lure an audience over to the standalone, spin-off app. What we know today as Instagram Stories used to be the signature feature of Snapchat — where the idea of disappearing photos and videos was first popularized. Facebook, which owns Instagram, has been known to scoop up rivals via pricey acquisitions and introduce products that essentially clone competitors — a method of business CEO Mark Zuckerberg came under fire for during last week’s Big Tech antitrust hearing in Congress.
