Being not the only social media on the market, Instagram knows that they need to keep up with every new trend out there to compete. Instagram Reels is described as a way of making and discovering short and entertaining videos on the platform. And when you hear that, at first, you think that you might have seen it before. Does TikTok ring any bells? Yes, it certainly does.
So, what makes Instagram Reels unique and exciting for the audience? What will keep us coming back for more, making the Instagram experience even more addicting than it is now? In this article, we will find out what the hype is all about.
What are Instagram Reels?
Similar to TikTok, Instagram Reels offers you a set of specific tools to help you make creative short videos to your liking. You can record and edit 15-second Reels videos with audio, text, special effects, and stickers, and share them with your followers on Instagram. To access the Reels feed, you have to click on the first reel at the Explore page’s top. There you can find lots of new spins from popular and trending accounts.
What’s the difference between Instagram Stories and Reels?
Although the idea behind them sounds similar, don’t get confused. We will take a look at the differences.
- With the help of reels, you can make some cool transitions in the videos to make them more interesting to watch. Reels have different video tools like speed controls and effects, making a video more exciting and pleasing to watch.
- The audio that you use in your video, specifically if it is original, is attributed to your account, and other users can use it to create new reels as well.
- You can share your Reels in your Stories, in Reels on the Explore page, and also you can post it in your feed, so there are multiple ways to be noticed by others. Since Instagram becomes a multipurpose platform, it might be useful to use it to your advantage.
Reels vs. TikTok
If you look at how Reels works, you can say it’s pretty similar to TikTok, and you won’t be wrong. Both platforms allow you to create entertaining videos using special video tools, and they also look almost identical, but there are some differences between them.
If you think about it, Reels is a new feature within a platform, while TikTok is a platform itself. Reels also has some time limitations – a video can’t be longer than 15 seconds, which has its pros and cons. But the downside of Reels is that it doesn’t have certain features that TikTok has. For instance, the duet option and local file upload don’t work. In addition to this, if you post your Reels to your Stories, they will disappear after 24 hours, which you have to keep in mind when uploading.
What’s the hype all about?
While exploring a whole new world of content, we have to mention some solid points why we think it becomes more and more popular.
Instagram is one of the most powerful and most influential social media platforms out there, and they don’t want this to change. So, of course, Instagram intends to compete with similar platforms, and that is probably the truth behind why Reels exists in the first place. They did something like this with IGTV, which can be compared with YouTube away.
Choosing Reels over TikTok might be an excellent option for those who own their own business and want to share exciting information about their brand with potential followers. It will give the company a chance to show what they’ve got using all the features of Instagram – they have Stories, feed, and Reels for that. It will help to engage more followers and show some process behind their work. Or it might be an educational video to grab viewers’ attention! Whatever works best.
For many creators having some followers on Instagram to begin with might help to succeed in making popular Reels as well, while it can be challenging to compete with everything TikTok has to offer. Maybe that is why Reels is gaining popularity among creative talents all around the world.
While some people are still debating whether it’s a good move from Instagram’s side, we can’t disagree that it’s already gaining some fans around it. For those who are mainly Instagram users, it’s a fantastic addition to the platform.
You can use this new feature to create unique content and deliver it fast to your followers – which is the best way to engage them. It can help to improve your Instagram presence. People like creating content that they can easily access. If you are not afraid to show your ideas to the world, you might as well try this exciting feature for yourself, not as a viewer but as a content creator.
Julie Franklin is a creative enthusiast. Subscribe to Tunetank’s blog to get all your questions answered.