Facebook is taking Reels, its TikTok-inspired short-form video feature, into its main app, expanding the program from its roots in Instagram, and promising it will be a new avenue for advertising.
On Wednesday, Facebook announced the changes coming to the main Facebook app with the introduction of Reels, a move that shows the company is trying to evolve with the times so as not to become a stale social network. TikTok, the Chinese-owned app, has proved to be a formidable rival with its combination of creative video editing tools and an eerily addictive algorithm.
“People can discover Reels based on their interests and what’s popular in a new, dedicated News Feed section,” Facebook stated in a blog post on Wednesday.
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A year ago, Facebook introduced Reels into Instagram, which has helped give creators on that app a new outlet to showcase their videos and participate in the types of hashtag trends that characterize TikTok. Just this week, TikTok announced it topped 1 billion active users. Facebook has 1.9 billion daily users, and 2.8 billion daily users across all its apps, including Instagram.
Facebook Reels is just the latest example of how U.S. social media companies are attempting to give users, especially popular creators who can be celebrities born of the internet, a way to reach larger audiences. The videos have the potential to broadcast to all the viewers of an app, not just followers.
The videos are also popular with brands and create new canvasses for ads on mobile devices. “Similar to Instagram, we’ll soon begin testing full-screen and immersive ads between Reels,” Facebook shared in the announcement. “As with organic Reels content, people can comment, like, view, save, share and skip them.”
In June, Instagram started running its first ads in Reels with brands such as BMW, Nestlé’s Nespresso, Louis Vuitton, Uber and Netflix.
Now Facebook is promoting Reels as a way for businesses and brands to connect with new audiences. “On Facebook, we will test sticker ads and banner ads in Reels and explore integrating with Stars,” the company announced.
Facebook also is paying top creators in a Reels Play bonus program, which is part of its commitment to dole out $1 billion to motivate creators on all its platforms. Snapchat had run a similar program that awarded $1 million a day to creators who performed well in Spotlight, a section that it launched last year to compete with TikTok.
YouTube has developed YouTube Shorts as its answer to TikTok, and even Reddit is developing a short-form video hub after it bought a TikTok rival called Dubsmash last year.
The expansion of Reels comes at a sensitive time for Facebook and Instagram, both under the spotlight for how social media affects teenagers. Perhaps no social media trend over the past two years has captured obsessed teenagers more than the snappy videos they can broadcast to millions of strangers on apps like TikTok and Instagram. On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal, as part of a series of reports dubbed "The Facebook Files," published more excerpts from the company's internal documents that purported to show Facebook executives' desire to design products that appeal to youth and keep the younger generations from fleeing the service. The report noted the success of Snapchat and TikTok as clear dangers to Facebook's future.
This is not the first time Facebook has made a foundational change to its main app inspired by new social media behaviors. In 2016, Instagram introduced Stories, the 24-hour disappearing videos made popular by Snapchat. The videos have become ubiquitous in the ad world with brands needing to develop new creative strategies for vertical videos that take up the whole screen on mobile devices.
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September 29, 2021 at 10:00PM
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