Following Instagram’s launch of its TikTok clone ‘Reels‘ in Brazil last year, the company has now expanded it to France and Germany. The feature lets Instagram users upload short 15-second time-synced clips similar to TikTok.
Alongside the expansion, Instagram has strategically incorporated Reels to its app. While the company previously limited Reels to Instagram Stories, the social media giant has now added a dedicated section for Reels in profile.
With this addition, there will be a total of four sections in Instagram profiles – the usual Grid view of images, Reels, IGTV, and Tagged photos.
Instagram has also added Reels in the Explore section for public accounts. This move will help the feature gain traction as the videos created through Reels will get a dedicated audience within the app.
It will be interesting to see if Instagram manages to attract potential TikTok users. It could even create a niche set of Instagram creators and audience who would be actively using Reels. Considering TikTok’s proven success with short-form videos, Instagram might just get successful in the format as well.
You might remember Facebook’s previous attempt to take on TikTok with an app named Lasso. However, that quickly went under the radar and didn’t get popular as Facebook would’ve expected. With Reels, the company is leveraging its existing Instagram userbase.
Instagram has not revealed when it will launch Reels in India or in the U.S. However, given that the company is now gradually expanding the feature, we could expect that to happen in the coming months.
So, now that Reels has come out of its ephemeral nature, would you be interested to use the feature when it becomes available? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.
