After being launched in the US for a year, Instagram Reels finally made it to our shores on October 27. With Reels, you can create short-form videos of 15 to 60 seconds using the Instagram camera or upload your videos from your camera roll, and edit them using advanced tools.
“We see Reels as a core part of the future of entertainment on Instagram; and today, we are excited to give people in Singapore new ways to express their authentic selves through Reels,” says Erin Pettigrew, product manager at Reels.
If you feel like Reels is reminiscent of TikTok, you aren’t alone. We all know that TikTok has become one of the top social platforms for most of Generation Z over the past two years, even boasting a rising popularity amongst other age groups.
If you ask me, a loyal Instagram and TikTok user for the past seven years, it seems that the introduction of Reels was an attempt to latch on to the trend of short-form video content and regain the audience that Instagram lost to TikTok. We all know Instagram is a social media powerhouse, especially since it was bought by Facebook in 2012. Even though Instagram has more overall downloads than TikTok, TikTok is quickly catching up.
Case in point: Instagram had over 500 million global downloads in 2019, whilst TikTok had 738 million, according to Mediakix.
Much like TikTok, the editing tools on Reels include a timer and countdown that allows you to record hands-free, and an align tool that enables you to seamlessly line up different takes, such as outfit changes, when creating your Reels. Other features include:
- Speed: Choose to speed up or slow down part of the video or audio you selected
- Timed Text and Stickers: Add text or stickers at a certain point in your video
- Touch-Up: Adds an overall smoothing effect to your content and the ability to control the intensity level
But the main difference between Reels and TikTok is the video duration — Instagram Reels are limited to 60 seconds whilst TikTok allows you to upload videos up to three minutes long.
Now, we know that TikTok relies heavily on the audio, be it music or new sounds that are created by its users. You might have noticed that a fair amount of TikTok audio and editing trends have made their way to Instagram Reels.
What this means is that Reels has adopted TikTok’s successful features, which is overall a smart move. Another thing that I realised after using Reels for a while (six days and counting, since October 27) is that Instagram has tighter copyright restrictions on the audio that is used on the platform, while TikTok has freer music and audio usage terms. That makes sense since TikTok is a music-based platform while Instagram is a photo-based platform.
1. Nicer fonts and colour choices
Visuals and aesthetics are a key aspect to any content — if you aren’t engaged within the first few seconds, you won’t be interested. Simple as that. In terms of visuals, Instagram Reels allows you to use the built-in fonts and filters that you’ve saved whilst filming and editing. In comparison, the TikTok fonts are not as aesthetically pleasing, at least to me, and the colours are not adjustable so you can’t customise your fonts. However, TikTok offers more in terms of visual effects like the ‘green screen’ and other filters that can be used synchronically, unlike Reels.
2. Original work is more protected
Crediting users has often been an issue on TikTok, with many creators having their choreography or concepts being used by others who either claim it as their own or use the works without crediting the original creator. With Reels, the creator’s work is more protected as you can’t download any content. Even though TikTok has a watermark on all the videos that are saved, I think this protective aspect of Reels is much better as it ensures that content is not duplicated on another creator’s profile. That’s a big plus for anyone who values original and unique content.
3. Longer captions
Hashtags make a huge difference in who views your content. But if you’re limited to 150 characters in your caption, like on TikTok, then you might not be able to appear in as many people’s timeline as you would like to. On the other hand, Instagram Reels has a 2,200 character limit, which means you can broaden your reach with more hashtags. This is especially important for small businesses who are looking to promote their brand or products.
On October 19, Instagram had its inaugural Product Week that kicked off with the introduction of Collabs, a way for you to co-author your Posts and now, Reels. You might have seen it across your feed where two accounts appear in the post header. This can be achieved by inviting another account in the tagging screen and, if they accept, it will be shared to both sets of followers.
Another product update is Superbeat that applies special effects to the beat of your chosen song, making your content even more immersive. This musical feature is supplemented by Dynamic and 3D Lyrics that displays on-screen song lyrics for people to perform with or groove to. This will not only save you time during editing, but also lets you create more dynamic videos.
These updates come after Facebook rolled out Instagram Music for users in Singapore last month, with features like Music stickers, Music in Profiles and Soundmojis.
All these updates also apply to Instagram Reels. So, yay.
If you’re a brand or creator with a sizable following on Instagram, but struggled to cross over to TikTok, you can totally capitalise on Reels and share short-form content with the followers you’ve spent so long to gain.
TBH, it can be difficult to figure out how to make content viral on TikTok, as oftentimes we don’t know what’s going to blow up. On TikTok, it’s usually the music audio that becomes popular and gets recreated by users. Take for example, Doja Cat’s song ‘Say So’ that was made viral by a TikTok user, Haley Sharpe. The song gained popularity due to her dance challenge and went viral in 2020, catapulting Doja to worldwide fame.
Another aspect you should keep in mind is that both apps can definitely be used interchangeably. For example, if you filmed a three-minute video and a 60-second version, you can post the former on your TikTok, and the latter on Instagram Reels and TikTok. This ensures maximum exposure for your content and profiles.
Having had experience creating content on both apps, I would say don’t be too quick to ditch one app for the other — to each their own. One thing’s for sure: If I were a business owner looking to grow my reach, or an influencer who wants to connect with my audience, I would make full use of both Instagram Reels and TikTok, with each platform’s strengths in mind.
In a nutshell, Instagram is an all-in-one platform that lets you post images along with videos of different types — IGTV for videos longer than 60 seconds, Instagram stories and tons of filters at your disposal. On the other hand, TikTok offers a wider variety of video content, mainly comedic, but also educational and raw, uncensored sharing from its users. Plus, TikTok has more original sounds, and allows users to remix unlicensed music and other audio.
Though Reels is fairly new, I can see potential in Instagram becoming the top social media platform amongst Gen Z and other age groups. Their attempt to counteract TikTok seems to be working so far (my time spent on Instagram has gone up by 35% because I’ve been exploring Reels), though it does have a long way to go to match up to its opponent, in terms of features.
Looking forward to an expanded audio library and clearer content analytics from Instagram Reels soon, hopefully.
