Facebook wants to be more popular among young users. Short video service Reel, which is now being integrated into the social network worldwide, aims to help. The reels are intended to counter TikTok.
Facebook is now rolling out its short video service Reel to Facebook globally. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced this in a Facebook post on Tuesday evening. This may be an attempt to halt the decline of the social network.
Social media giant Facebook previously rolled from a user record to the next — but it’s clearly over, with the billionaire network’s user growth coming to a grinding halt recently: For the last quarter, Facebook has had to admit slightly shrinking user numbers for the first time,
This is no surprise. For the past few years, young people have looked to Facebook as a platform for older people: youth and young adults are more likely to use the short video service TikTok. With this trend toward concise video content that can be consumed on the side, Facebook must now be fully involved – with the reels.
The format was already introduced on Instagram in 2020
This short video function was already introduced on Instagram in August 2020: Here users can upload and watch 1 short video clip. With a swipe of your finger, you can directly switch to the next clip. The striking resemblance to the TikTok model apparently hasn’t even tried to hide.
In the autumn of 2021, Reels was also integrated into Facebook – but only in the USA. In a Facebook post, parent company Meta head Mark Zuckerberg explains that the service will be rolled out to all Facebook users worldwide with immediate effect.
Reels is “the fastest growing content format ever,” he said. In addition, a new function for earning from reels content will also be released. Here it is about the initially displayed ad banners and ad stickers, full-surface ads between short videos also coming soon. The platform should also be attractive to professional video makers.
Zuckerberg also revealed other planned expansions to the service: ‘Remix’ should make it possible to create content from existing stories and a cropping tool will also be added.
Cross-platform linking of reels will also be possible: reels from Instagram can then be advertised on Facebook.
Reels will appear on Facebook as a small button next to, among other things, the “Live”, “Photos” and “Room” buttons in the newsfeed at the top. If you tap on that, you can create your own reel. This button was not previously available on iOS devices used by editors.
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