Reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong gave the world a precursor of a TikTok-like feature that Instagram was testing since long. First it was called Clips, then it got renamed to Scenes, and now the final version, which has been launched in Brazil, is called Reels. Instagram Reels is a feature that works a lot like TikTok -- a short-form mobile video app owned by Chinese firm Bytedance.
Instagram Reels allows a user to make 15-second video clips and share them as Stories. Just like it’s with TikTok, users can add soundtrack to their video from a catalog of music at their disposal. Instagram Reels is currently available on both Android and iOS in Brazil. There is no information about the roll out in other markets.
It hardly comes as a surprise because FACEBOOK has had a record of copying famous apps and then incorporating the features in its own products. For example, the Stories feature itself was copied from Snapchat. This is seen as the company’s way of keeping people engaged on any of its platforms, and Reels may prove to be another tool to retain the company’s user base.
Instagram is working on Scenes, a TikTok-like video editing/remixing tool for Stories
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) 12 November 2019
Other users will be able to remix your "Scenes" if your account is public
You are given music, video speed, timer, AR Effect, etc to edit each clip
This feature is previously known as Clips pic.twitter.com/5y1DGACFis
As per FACEBOOK’s third quarter 2019 results, it has 1.62 billion daily active users (DAUs) on average (for September 2019), which is an increase of 9 per cent year-over-year (YoY). When it comes to the monthly active users (MAUs), the number reached 2.45 billion, registering an increase of 8 per cent YoY. ‘We estimate that around 2.2 billion people now use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger every day on average, and around 2.8 billion people use at least one of our Family of services each month,’ Facebook Inc said.
Recently, FACEBOOK’s introduced Threads messaging app that has been ‘designed with privacy, speed, and your close connections in mind.’ Users can share photos, videos, messages, Stories, and more with their Instagram close friends in a dedicated, private space on Instagram. Threads opens directly to the camera app and allows users to add shortcuts.
