📷 Image Credit: The Verge 👆
By: Jacob Kastrenakes

TL;DR Instagram is in the process of making its own version of TikTok. The addition to the app, REELS, might be coming just in time if TikTok gets banned in the US.

Just as the U.S. is in discussions with a potential ban for the popular app TikTok, Instagram is planning on making a TikTok clone. Instagram has confirmed that its take on TikTok will be launched in early August in the United States and other countries. The feature will be called “Reels” and will allow users to record and edit 15-second video clips set to music and have the ability to use another user’s audio. Reels are a story feature add-on in Instagram, which won’t live forever as they do on TikTok unless a user adds it to their profile. So far, the feature is only available in Brazil and India.

Instagram and Facebook have had a pattern for replicating successful features from other apps. In the past, Instagram decided to include a story option that it took from Snapchat, and they are doing it again with Reels as a replication of TikTok. Instagram is likely hoping to see the same growth it did when it introduced the stories feature to draw more users to the app. If TikTok really does get banned in the US, Instagram might be able to come in at the right time with a replacement of sorts for seamless user-generated content from one app to the other. Smart Play!

Written by: Sofia Christensen, Intern

Edited by: Lisa Knight, COO & Mentor