To compete with TikTok, Instagram is increasing the maximum duration of its Reels while adding new features. Objective: to offer more freedom to make short videos that are more creative… and more viral!
Instagram and TikTok are waging a merciless war to seduce image lovers of all kinds, and in particular in the field of video, the two social networks offering short formats that are very popular with their users. And, in this field, the Chinese (TikTok) had taken the lead by increasing the maximum duration of clips from 3 to 10 minutes in order to offer much more freedom to videographers, who can since produce richer and more excavated. Following the same approach, the American (Instagram) has just retaliated by increasing the length of its Reels, its short videos, which can now reach 90 seconds instead of 60, as announced by the platform in a blog post.
Instagram: 90-second Reels for more creativity
This increase in duration makes it possible to add more content while maintaining the short format dear to the platform. In addition, the Meta group, owner of Instagram, wants to boost the creativity of its users with the help of new functions for its short videos, such as an improved sound effects library. It will also be possible to import personal audio files (but they must be less than 5 seconds) that other people can reuse, and vice versa.
That’s not all: interactive stickers, the emoji slider, quizzes and polls, already present in Stories, are also appearing in Reels. A way to encourage creativity while emphasizing interaction within the community. Instagram has also introduced templates to help newbie Instagrammers create a Reel from an existing one. A function directly inspired by… TikTok!
Meta Group, which also owns Facebook and WhatsApp, said it will continue to add more features to Instagram for Reels to make content even more viral by interacting with the community. The network war is far from over…