Instagram is launching a new video tool that’s nearly a copycat of popular video app TikTok (FB)

Tyler Sonnemaker

November 12, 2019 8:12 PM

Instagram is launching Reels, a new video format within Instagram Stories, that allows users to create 15-second videos set to music, according to TechCrunch and Variety .

Reels

The new feature is a near copycat of popular social video app TikTok .
Instagram is currently testing Reels with users in Brazil.
The feature was initially hinted at in September.
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Instagram is launching a new video feature called Reels, and it's nearly identical to popular video app TikTok.

Reels, which the company is currently testing in Brazil, is a new format within Instagram Stories that lets users take advantage of various video editing tools and an extensive music catalog to create 15-second clips. In September, a leak hinted that Instagram was testing this feature, which at the time appeared to be called Clips.

The feature, which was first reported by TechCrunch and Variety , appears to be an attempt by Instagram to compete more directly with Chinese social media app Tik Tok , which has been quickly growing its user base globally and in the US.

While new to Instagram, the short-form video and music feature looks similar to the format originally popularized by TikTok, a detail Instagram head Adam Mosseri seemed to acknowledge on Twitter Tuesday.

This isn't the first time that Instagram parent company Facebook has rolled out new features mimicking rival apps , as it has repeatedly done in its efforts to compete with Snapchat.

Reels Instagram

Instagram said it has seen the recent popularity of short-form videos set to music, both on its platform and elsewhere, and that it hopes to give the 500 million users who view Instagram Stories each day a new way to create and share videos.

"Instagram Stories has always been a home for expression and we believe this new format has huge potential to enable more creativity for people," Robby Stein, Instagram's director of product, said in a statement to Business Insider.

Reels launched Tuesday for both iOS and Android users in Brazil, can be found as a new shutter mode under Instagram Stories, next to Boomerang and Super-Zoom. Users can share Reels videos to their Stories, or more privately with Close Friends or via direct messages.

During the testing phase, Instagram will feature some users' videos in a new Top Reels section of the Explore tab in an apparent effort to replicate the virality seen on TikTok.

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