In a complete coincidence of timing, Instagram just announced two new features launching for Reels in the US starting today. Here are the details.
TikTok’s availability in the US is officially set to end this weekend. And one of the competitors best primed to benefit from the US ban is Instagram.
Right before what could be a flood of new users, Instagram is rolling out two upgrades to Reels (the equivalent of TikTok’s short-form videos).
Starting in the US, and expanding elsewhere later, Reels now support the following via Instagram’s communications team:
- Discover what your friends and followers are into. We’re making it easier to see and engage with the content your friends are liking (or adding a note to) on reels at the top right corner of the Reels tab.
- Start conversations: You’ll also see a reply bar, so you can easily start conversations around content you’re enjoying, giving you even more opportunities for your reels to be seen by people who don’t follow you yet.
As you can see in the image above, Instagram will surface friends and followers’ activity on a given reel while you’re looking at it. This makes it much easier to see what your friends are into.
And you can take things a step further by replying to their activity. So if a given friend likes a reel, you’ll be able to reply to their like—expanding opportunities for social engagement.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot more Reels additions in the weeks and months ahead if TikTok’s US ban does indeed take effect. From a business standpoint, this is a unique opportunity for Meta that won’t come along often.
What do you think of the new Reels features? Which apps do you plan to use more post-TikTok ban? Let us know in the comments.
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