As per a recent report by TechCrunch, the much talked about Instagram Reels feature is debuting across the globe in over 50 countries. Notably, this also includes the US.
With this expansion, Instagram Reels is now available in major markets like India, Brazil, France, Germany, the U.K., Japan, Australia, Spain, and several others. There was a void created after all the tension and ban of the TikTok app by India.
India is one of the major markets for TikTok and also has the most TikTok users in the world. After the ban, India cost TikTok over $6 billion, which is nowhere near a small number.
This ban also created an opening for major app developers to earn profits. Apparently, taking advantage of this, Instagram launched the Reels feature. This is like TikTok, where users can create a 15-sec mini-video with popular songs, trends, or challenges.
Instagram has already introduced this feature in several regions, including India. Although Facebook might not admit it, this feature seems to have been deliberately launched to shift the TikTok users base over to Instagram.
So far, the numbers seem pretty good. Moreover, now that Instagram Reels is now live for 50+ regions, we can only expect the numbers to shoot upwards.
Instagram Reels features AR effects, a countdown timer, and much more
As we have already mentioned, Reels is almost a clone of TikTok. Users get features like AR effects, a huge library of music to choose from, an align tool to line up different takes, and other editing tools.
The music available in Reels will not be removed due to copyright issues. Because Instagram has already inked deals with major record labels. Meanwhile, the Trump administration in the US is in no mood to spare TikTok, because of its links with China.
Microsoft is also evaluating its options to buy the US operations of TikTok, for which the Trump administration has seemingly agreed. Facebook launched a TikTok clone Lasso when the former was at its peak. And as you might have guessed, it did not take off and was put on the back burner.
However, this gave Facebook a large amount of user data to help create its TikTok rival. Moreover, this information was put forth for building features for what we have today, called Instagram Reels.
Later, beta testing took off in many regions, including India and Europe. And now the expansion is clearly targeted at the up for grabs TikTok audience in the US, while TikTok is sailing on a rocky ship in the country.