SwipeTown Academy

Aware of the growing power of TikTok, Instagram has once again looked at itself in the mirror of the competition. And yesterday officially presented its particular “copycat” of the famous Chinese app: Reels.

It was August 2016 when Instagram, jealous of the star functionality of the most emerging social network at the time (Snapchat), cloned or short lazy the “Stories” of the platform led by Evan Spiegel.

The Facebook affiliate was successful. And four years after presenting its “copycat”, its users (and also its advertisers) are drinking to the “Stories” that so vilely copied its rival Snapchat.

Today, the social network that makes the all-powerful Instagram the greenest of envy is no longer Snapchat but a Chinese app called TikTok.

Conscious of its growing power, Instagram has returned to the scene and officially presented yesterday its particular TikTok “copycat”: Reels.

Reels

Reels is a new batch functionality integrated within the social network. It allows the user to record and edit 15-second videos with audio, effects and all kinds of creative tools. (TikTok style).

The launch of Reels comes at a critical time for the social network with which it intends to enter into direct competition, TikTok, whose future in the United States, where it has some 100 million users, is full of unknowns.

Microsoft

If TikTok’s US subsidiary is not sold to Microsoft (formally interested in its acquisition) or any other “made in USA” company by September 15, President Donald Trump has already announced that he will ban the app in the US for national security reasons.

Instagram Reels comes out of its shell just as TikTok risks disappearing in the US.

Reels started shooting yesterday in 50 countries, including Spain, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Japan.

The new Instagram creature will also be available in Brazil. Where the social network began experimenting with this functionality last year. And in India, which last June decided to veto the use of TikTok on its territory. After a confrontation with the Chinese army in a disputed border area.

15-second videos

Reels gives the user the opportunity to light up 15-second videos. With many of the features that have built up TikTok’s extraordinary popularity in recent times. Editing tools, augmented reality, timer and countdown, and music integration into content.

Instagram’s new tool focuses on the consumption of video content. Which is one of the factors that have catapulted TikTok to stardom.

As with TikTok, Reels’ recommendations for user entertainment are rooted in the overall popularity of the content. Rather than the individual preferences of the viewer.

Finally, users can share their Reels with their followers on the main screen (“feed”) and, if they have a public account, make them accessible to the entire Instagram community through a new space on Explore.