Instagram is reportedly making lucrative offers to TikTok stars to join the company’s new rival service to TikTok- Reels, an Instagram feature that allows users to post short-form clips just like the TikTok app.
On July 28, the Wall Street Journal published a report stating that the company may be looking to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to lure famous TikTok content creators to Instagram’s new short-form-video service. While the Wall Street Journal did not mention the names of particular content creators who were approached by the social media giant, this indicates a direct escalation in competition between the world’s largest social platform, Facebook, and China-based ByteDance-owned short video platform, TikTok.
Facebook plans to roll out the short video feature, Reel, in the United States in August of this year, and the feature seems to be a direct rival to ByteDance’s TikTok. The company is testing this feature in various countries including France, Germany, and Brazil. Furthermore, the feature is also being tested in one of the largest Instagram’s market, India, and it will live inside the Stories feature of the Instagram app.
So, what makes Reels different from the TikTok application? The short videos of the Reels feature are limited to only fifteen seconds, while the TikTok app offers a limit of 1 minute. The popular users of TikTok’s platform have gathered a large following of audiences on TikTok’s platform, and several companies pay these popular TikTok creators to reach those large audiences. Companies ask TikTok stars to use particular songs, wear branded shirts, or sometimes directly promote their products in short videos.
The Facebook-owned platform has approached a diverse range of content creators about the Reels feature in various markets where the company is currently testing the feature. The ByteDance-owned TikTok app has posed a major challenge to Facebook. In terms of downloads, TikTok surpassed the Instagram app, and the TikTok app was downloaded 2 billion times across the globe during April of this year. TikTok is particularly popular among younger users. According to Jiminy, in the United States, 70% of 10-year-old girls who have smartphones use the TikTok app. However, the China-based company is under considerable scrutiny in the United States due to privacy and security issues.
Mark Zuckerberg is set to appear before a congressional antitrust committee this Wednesday. Facebook is not the only company that is seeking to launch an alternative service to TikTok as Google’s YouTube is also testing a similar service. Last week, YouTube announced that the company is testing a feature called Shorts that resemble video options and tools available on the TikTok app.
Photo Credit: Alamy
Read next: 47 Percent of Americans want the Government to keep the Social Media Firms in Check, Pew Report Suggests!
On July 28, the Wall Street Journal published a report stating that the company may be looking to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to lure famous TikTok content creators to Instagram’s new short-form-video service. While the Wall Street Journal did not mention the names of particular content creators who were approached by the social media giant, this indicates a direct escalation in competition between the world’s largest social platform, Facebook, and China-based ByteDance-owned short video platform, TikTok.
Facebook plans to roll out the short video feature, Reel, in the United States in August of this year, and the feature seems to be a direct rival to ByteDance’s TikTok. The company is testing this feature in various countries including France, Germany, and Brazil. Furthermore, the feature is also being tested in one of the largest Instagram’s market, India, and it will live inside the Stories feature of the Instagram app.
So, what makes Reels different from the TikTok application? The short videos of the Reels feature are limited to only fifteen seconds, while the TikTok app offers a limit of 1 minute. The popular users of TikTok’s platform have gathered a large following of audiences on TikTok’s platform, and several companies pay these popular TikTok creators to reach those large audiences. Companies ask TikTok stars to use particular songs, wear branded shirts, or sometimes directly promote their products in short videos.
The Facebook-owned platform has approached a diverse range of content creators about the Reels feature in various markets where the company is currently testing the feature. The ByteDance-owned TikTok app has posed a major challenge to Facebook. In terms of downloads, TikTok surpassed the Instagram app, and the TikTok app was downloaded 2 billion times across the globe during April of this year. TikTok is particularly popular among younger users. According to Jiminy, in the United States, 70% of 10-year-old girls who have smartphones use the TikTok app. However, the China-based company is under considerable scrutiny in the United States due to privacy and security issues.
Mark Zuckerberg is set to appear before a congressional antitrust committee this Wednesday. Facebook is not the only company that is seeking to launch an alternative service to TikTok as Google’s YouTube is also testing a similar service. Last week, YouTube announced that the company is testing a feature called Shorts that resemble video options and tools available on the TikTok app.
Photo Credit: Alamy
Read next: 47 Percent of Americans want the Government to keep the Social Media Firms in Check, Pew Report Suggests!
