Adam Mosseri of Instagram renown is, in his own words, “unhappy” with Reels, conceding that TikTok still prospers as the superior platform.
Mosseri, the current head of Instagram, recently sat down with The Verge is delivering a rather raw honesty that isn’t typical of large corporations. This concession to TikTok’s might, however, is very much deserved. The social media video-sharing platform is snowballing into continuous success, despite the restrictions across multiple countries. The platform has been a continuous font of creativity and, while primarily catering to Gen Z, has become a haven for old and young alike. It’s trend-setting capacity meets that of YouTube’s in its heyday, if not trumps it. Either due to deliberate and careful planning or a stroke of bizarre luck, TikTok has become the rather audible voice of an entire generation.
Compared to that, Reels is just another Instagram feature. While Instagram actively touted it as an essential competitor to TikTok, and has been continuously working on developing the medium, it really feels like an extension of the app instead of its own entity. Instagram’s story-based and picture intensive nature means that people usually have a hard time differentiating between normal videos, IGTV, and Reels, thus rendering their respective individuality irrelevant. Mosseri even says as much, claiming on The Verge podcast that most people don’t know the difference between IGTV and normal Insta videos (although no numbers were supplied), even though the former has been around since 2018.
While Instagram’s honest grappling with its shortcomings is noteworthy, and their own niche success is nothing short of brilliant, having launched entire careers, what is the social media platform planning for its future? How will it overcome these shortcomings? Well, while Adam Mosseri didn’t go into any specifics, he has stated that the company needs to focus less on creating temporary pop-culture hits (the term “meme” was mentioned), and instead more on creative and versatile tools that will actively allow the Insta community to demonstrate creativity and growth, really showing artistic license and expression.
Ultimately, the entire competitive push that Instagram is offering to TikTok may prove to be for naught. TikTok has had years worth of experience and development time, which it has carefully used to build a proper empire. Instagram’s attempt at chasing the short-hand video clip trend might prove to be misguided, as it attempts to emulate something it’s not suited to. Perhaps, at the end of the day, one shouldn’t compare apples to oranges, and this is a lesson that Instagram has yet to learn.
Read next: Advanced descriptive captioning feature for images is soon to come on Facebook and Instagram
Mosseri, the current head of Instagram, recently sat down with The Verge is delivering a rather raw honesty that isn’t typical of large corporations. This concession to TikTok’s might, however, is very much deserved. The social media video-sharing platform is snowballing into continuous success, despite the restrictions across multiple countries. The platform has been a continuous font of creativity and, while primarily catering to Gen Z, has become a haven for old and young alike. It’s trend-setting capacity meets that of YouTube’s in its heyday, if not trumps it. Either due to deliberate and careful planning or a stroke of bizarre luck, TikTok has become the rather audible voice of an entire generation.
Compared to that, Reels is just another Instagram feature. While Instagram actively touted it as an essential competitor to TikTok, and has been continuously working on developing the medium, it really feels like an extension of the app instead of its own entity. Instagram’s story-based and picture intensive nature means that people usually have a hard time differentiating between normal videos, IGTV, and Reels, thus rendering their respective individuality irrelevant. Mosseri even says as much, claiming on The Verge podcast that most people don’t know the difference between IGTV and normal Insta videos (although no numbers were supplied), even though the former has been around since 2018.
While Instagram’s honest grappling with its shortcomings is noteworthy, and their own niche success is nothing short of brilliant, having launched entire careers, what is the social media platform planning for its future? How will it overcome these shortcomings? Well, while Adam Mosseri didn’t go into any specifics, he has stated that the company needs to focus less on creating temporary pop-culture hits (the term “meme” was mentioned), and instead more on creative and versatile tools that will actively allow the Insta community to demonstrate creativity and growth, really showing artistic license and expression.
Ultimately, the entire competitive push that Instagram is offering to TikTok may prove to be for naught. TikTok has had years worth of experience and development time, which it has carefully used to build a proper empire. Instagram’s attempt at chasing the short-hand video clip trend might prove to be misguided, as it attempts to emulate something it’s not suited to. Perhaps, at the end of the day, one shouldn’t compare apples to oranges, and this is a lesson that Instagram has yet to learn.
Read next: Advanced descriptive captioning feature for images is soon to come on Facebook and Instagram
