While it started as an app to celebrate the joys of retro photography, Instagram now seems to put more stock in its short-form video section, Reels. This is Meta’s answer to the runaway success of TikTok among younger demographics.
In an effort to help content creators make Instagram their social network of choice, Meta has announced two new features to make capturing the lightning-in-a-bottle moment of internet virality a bit easier.
The first is a streamlined and improved editing process. Rather than having to edit audio, stickers and text overlays in several separate steps, creators can now do it on a single screen.
The timeline editing feature, shared by Meta in a post announcing the changes, looks a lot closer to what TikTok currently offers. It should make it easier for creators to put something professional looking out quickly.
Changes to editing are about the production process itself, but the second improvement is about helping creators get inspired and latch on to the latest viral trends in the first place.
A new Reels page shows trending hashtags and songs, and tells viewers how many videos use a specific audio track. Creators can save any audio they like for later, or apply it to their latest video right away.
These changes — as well as improvements to the analytics dashboard, allowing creators to track how long people watched, and what videos attracted new followers — may sound minor. However, they could certainly help Instagram to fight back against TikTok’s dominance in the short-form video space.
Part of what makes TikTok so appealing to creators in the first place was the ease with which video could be created. Also integral to its viral nature is the way in which users can quickly see and adapt viral trends and memes for their own content.
Normally, you would consider this too little too late for Instagram, given the enormous reach of its younger rival. But with TikTok facing scrutiny worldwide thanks to suspicions of its Chinese government links, Instagram is putting itself in a good position to capitalise should things escalate further.
And there’s every sign that they might. At the weekend, Montana became the first US state to ban the app, though how such a law can be enforced remains to be seen.
