Facebook Meta Reels doubles as a competitor to the hugely popular TikTok by expanding the program to more than 150 countries and adding editing and monetization features.
TikTok is a powerhouse in terms of customer reach for regular users and brands with over 1 billion active users.
Millions of short videos reach people all over the world every day.
It is also an important tool for brand management and advertising with sponsored ads.
In an effort to capitalize on this trend, it created Meta Instagram Reels in 2020 and Facebook Reels in September 2021 in countries such as the United States, Canada, Mexico, and India.
Meta opens universal reels to 150 countries To help create new and interesting content, provide users with a way to earn money, and connect with audiences.
Tik Tok vs. Facebook reels
TikTok was launched in 2016 in China but wasn’t available for iOS or Android until 2017. It was only after it merged with music that it rose in popularity.
TikTok allows people to create and share videos on the app. People add filters and other decorations to make the video more interesting or marketable. It contains a wide variety of topics from home improvement, comedy, conspiracy theories, and more.
Users can follow creators, comment on videos, like videos, and swipe up or down to change videos. Brands can have their own TikTok account for organic access or they can create TikToks for sponsored ads.
Reels has a similar interface but has many more options for ads and more to come in the near future. These ad options include overlay ads, banner ads, and poster ads. The Meta is testing a revenue stream for creators where people can buy stars for their favorite creators.
Increase editing features
The Meta also reveals new editing features including:
- A remix allows people to create a tape next to an existing, publicly shared reel
- Reels are 60 seconds long
- Create a reels project
- Crop video to make it easier for creators to test different formats for live and feature-length content
Can Reels compete with Tik Tok?
The massive reach of Facebook and the Instagram Meta gives it an opportunity to reach a lot more people with Reels than TikTok can. The question is will people take advantage of this or ignore it in the more popular TikTok.
Facebook demographics are older than TikTok and would they be willing to use Reels or just rework existing TikToks for the new software?
Source: meta
Featured image: Screenshot from fb.com.about/news, February 2022.
