introducing the “instagram reels“ and its new features

Last November, Instagram attempted to challenge Tiktok by launching a new feature where users can record 15-second video clips that can be shared on IG Story.

It was called Instagram Reels. Similar to how Tiktok works, Instagram Reels allows users to play around with their video by adding music, countdown timer, adjusting the video’s speed. Do these features sound familiar?

The unbreakable Tik Tok is evidently a great threat to all social media platforms. With its fast-growing community, advertisers are now leveraging on the app! Read my article on Why advertise on Tiktok? Why your business should be and how to do it if you’re curious about it.

Actually, this is not the first time Facebook attempted to challenge Tiktok. The Instagram parent company launched a short-form video app called “Lasso” in 2018. Have you heard about it?

Well, obviously, it was a failed attempt and did not achieve its goal to win back the attention of the teens. Now with Facebook’s “never give up” attitude, they made a comeback with IG Reels which is now rolling globally in over 50 countries such as United states, Australia, India, Japan, France, Germany, UK, and other several countries after 8 months since their first launch.

Responding to its community’s requests in turning Reels to be permanent and accessible to increase its exposure, Instagram added new features on its latest launch.

 

 

INSTAGRAM REELS NEW FEATUREs

Dedicated Space for Reels

Originally since your videos will be published on IG Story, all videos created with Reels will disappear after 24hrs, but in its latest version, they added a Reels tab that is now accessible on the profile. You can find it between the Grid tab and the Tag tab.

 

 

How to create a video with IG reels

Creating Reels is very easy—it’s just like creating Tiktok video. (lol)

From your newsfeed, swipe right to access the IG story camera or you can just click the “+” icon on your display picture. Then tap the REELS menu.

 

 

As you can see on the screenshot, there are four icons at the left side of your screen: Audio, Speed, Effects and Timer.

If you want to use audio to your video, just tap the “music” icon – a window will open where you can choose from the list of IG’s in-app audios.

 

 

Adjusting the speed of your video is also easy! Simply tap the “play” icon on the same menu. You can adjust the speed of your video up to 3x faster.

 

 

Of course, applying effects is the most fun part! Tap that “emoji” icon to start using your favorite filter, AR, or keep swiping to the end and tap “browse effects” for more options.

 

 

Choose how long you want to record your clips by tapping the “stopwatch” icon. When you set a timer, a countdown will start before the recording starts.

 

 

Once everything is set, you can start recording by holding the “record” button.

 

 

If you want to be more creative, you can hold-release-press the “record” button multiple times to pause and then continue your footage during your 15-second video.

Once you are finally satisfied with the result, you can choose to edit your thumbnail or select from your camera roll to add a cover.

 

 

Lastly, you can save it as a draft, send it to your friends, share it with stories, or add it to your Instagram profile. If you want to see all the Reels you published, just go to your profile and click the “video” icon to open the Reels tab.

 

 

Sources:

https://later.com/blog/instagram-reels/

https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/24/instagram-expands-its-tiktok-clone-reels-to-new-markets/

https://www.distractify.com/p/instagram-reels-release-date

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