It is almost a year since the Instagram reels were introduced. The application is denoted as the clone of TikTok. Today, Reels have become a massive hit on Instagram. In this article, I will shed a spotlight on how TikTok is a significant factor behind Reels’ success.
The Rolling-Out of Instagram Reels:
Reels that possess the characteristics of TikTok are said to be rolled-out by Instagram to prevent its users from making a move to TikTok. The lip-synching social application TikTok stood as a massive challenge to the growth of the Facebook family of applications. TikTok had an impressive user base in almost all countries. The USA alone has nearly 122 million TikTok users. To hamper the consistent growth of TikTok, Instagram had come-up with its new feature, Reels. Notably, 2020 was testing time for TikTok. The application had faced accusations such as handling its user data to the Chinese government. The US government openly alerted its citizens. Eventually, people started to shift from TikTok to Reels which looked almost similar to TikTok. This has reflected in the increase in the user base of Instagram. Trollishly, a well-known digital marketing firm has been doing impeccable service helping brands to craft engaging Reels.
The Way Reels Emulates TikTok:
Reels was crafted from extracting the core concept of TikTok. Everyone familiar with both of these platforms can identify it quickly. TikTok has shorter-duration videos in which people shake their legs or perform and try to match it with the soundtrack that plays in the background. Reels can also be defined in the same manner, which has the same characteristic as TikTok. The maximum duration of Reels is 30 seconds, whereas, for TikTok, it is 60 seconds. Instagram had consciously brought down its reels’ duration considering that the minimal duration videos could quickly drive generation Z. However, Reels retains almost the majority of the characteristics of TikTok. In both the features, the background score will play a crucial role in making a video look more attractive. Instagram stands slightly ahead as it has tied with many music labels and indie bands. Hence, content creators using reels are having a handful of choices when picking the music tracks. This factor will be a back down to TikTok, and people can end-up choosing Instagram.
Though reels can be regarded as a clone of TikTok, Instagram replicated it wisely by changing it according to the present trends. Reels last only for 30 seconds, but TikTok has a maximum duration of up to 1 minute. The shortening down of the duration of reels is actually according to today’s internet users’ interest. Generation Z and Millennials are primarily driven towards content that is shorter in duration. Hence, keeping this in mind, Instagram consciously introduced reels with a duration of 30 seconds. This has worked well as people like that they could watch nearly ten reels in five minutes. People could watch a diverse range of content in a limited period which has become a driving factor of people towards Reels.
Effects Have Their Own Effects:
Today, effects are playing a vital role in amplifying the quality of the videos. TikTok allows its users to create effects from any third-party applications, which is not possible with reels. Users are allowed to use only the effects that Instagram provides. Though this is a lagging factor for content creators on reels, the AR effects provided by Instagram can match the need for a diverse range of effects to a certain extent. However, if Instagram allows the use of third-party applications for effects, this will lead to content availability with a diverse range of filters.
Wrapping Up:
Instagram has emulated TikTok for creating reels. However, the fact that made Reels a hit is that it made modifications that could exactly match the internet users’ current interests. Eventually, this has increased the consumption of reels and propelled the userbase of Instagram.
