Instagram Launches Reels In India- Tik Tok Rival in India – Introducing Tik Tok’s newest competition, Reels. This is Facebook’s way of trying to give Tik Tok something to think about and to an extent, it’s working.
Instagram has had Reels launch coming for quite some time now and what better time to start its launch than now.
What is Instagram Reels?
This Instagram feature is a new way to create engaging, fun, and short videos from Instagram stories. India is not the first country rather the fourth to witness its launch. It was first tested in Brazil and has been rolled out to European countries like France and Germany.
Very similar to Tik Tok, users can create short videos with music playing in the background. There is a video timer, a video speed control, and a huge list of music to select from unless you’d rather create your own.
Why is Instagram Launching Reels?
There are a lot of reasons and all points to just one; to give Tik Tok a thing or two to worry about. They say it’s not who has the idea first, it’s who has it best.
If you take a look at Tik Tok’s growth since it was founded in 2017, it seems unbelievable. From becoming the most downloaded app in the U.S in 2018, the 7th most downloaded app of the decade (2010-2019) to becoming the most downloaded in the world in the first quarter of 2020.
Facebook wants to be everywhere, wants to compete with every social media network through one way or the other. A quick hint; Randomly select any social media app or network and derive its core function. You would notice that you would be able to find that core function in either Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or any other Facebook-owned network.
To prove that point, Facebook launched a third-party app called Lasso which unfortunately didn’t pick. Techcrunch called it Facebook’s Tik Tok Clone and they were very right to do so. Apart from some new extra features, Lasso is entirely like Tik Tok.
Instagram Launching Reels In India
All countries that have witnessed Reels launch do not really have Tik Tok’s influence in them. Reels launch in India happened earlier than expected and is no coincidence at all.
It’s no coincidence that Reels launch in India happens a few days after the Indian government banned Tik Tok, WeChat, and 57 other Chinese apps. In due time Reels might become Tik Tok’s best alternative in India.
Instagram is starting its new Tik Tok lookalike feature launch in regions where Tik Tok does not really have users. This way they won’t really have competition and from there they could keep expanding Reels feature around the world and gradually to places where Tik Tok influence is quite strong.
How to Use the Instagram Reels Feature
To create a Reel, tap on the Instagram Story section at the top and select “Reels” at the bottom of the Instagram camera icon. On the next camera screen, there will be video editing options and tools which you should be familiar with if you’ve used Tik Tok.
Select a song by tapping on the “Music” icon, specify video speed by tapping on the “Play” icon and you could also choose the video’s length by clicking on the “Stopwatch” icon. There are also lots of filters, effects, or stickers to try out.
To record a video, just hold on the record button. Like on Tik Tok, if you release your hold on the record button, the recording will stop. Clips recorded on Reels can be sent to a specified person on Instagram. Can also be shared to Instagram stories, or added to the Reels tab on Instagram Profile.
All videos recorded using Reels will be found in the new Reels tab in user’s Instagram profiles.
