Instagram by Facebook has been introducing several new features on its platform and many of them seems to have been copied from Snapchat. Now, the company has introduced yet another features which has not been inspired by Snapchat but seems to have been inspired from TikTok.
As per the reports, Instagram has launched a new feature called ‘Reels’ in Brazil which is an editing feature in the Stories section. This is the first major feature that the company has released in its war against ByteDance-owned TikTok.
The feature enables user to shoot 15-second videos that can be edited with music from other videos – just like TikTok. The new editing tools include a so-called ghost mode that lines up action between cuts by overlaying the last frame of the previous video over the camera view, as well as a countdown clock that helps to improve the timing of recorded clips.
The company wants to popularize the format by promoting it through hashtags. In a statement to TechCrunch, Robby Stein, Instagram’s director of product management said, “I think [about] Musically before TikTok, and TikTok deserves a ton of credit for popularizing this format.”
TikTok is very popular in various countries such as India, US, Turkey, and Russia. The company even enjoys a bigger userbase than Snapchat and the platform growing at rapid pace. Since the app found its popularity and millions of users in India, it makes sense that Instagram is launching this feature in Brazil, a comparable market to India.
The new Reel feature from Instagram is now available on both iOS and Android in Brazil. However, it remains to be seen if this feature takes off in the country and if Instagram proceeds to launch the same in other regions as well.
