It seems Meta is making a big push to promote Reels. Social media consultant Matt Navarra posted a screenshot on Twitter showing a notification for an experimental Instagram feature that says all video posts will be shared as Reels on the app.
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If your account is public, that means anyone can discover your video and use your original audio to create their own Reel. Only friends will see your video if your profile is private, but other users can create a remix of your Reel and download it as part of their own remix. The only way to ensure that no one uses your Reel for remixes is to turn off the option in Settings or disable it for each video you post.
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As TechCrunch notes, this move comes as no surprise given that TikTok-style videos have quickly become a popular format on both Instagram and Facebook . When revealing the company’s fourth-quarter 2021 earnings report, Mark Zuckerberg said that Reels is now Meta’s fastest-growing content format . Meta’s Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox, called Reels a “bright spot” for the company as well, in a recent memo shared with employees , warning them of “serious times” ahead due to slowing growth . He also said that one of the projects Meta plans to focus on for the second half of 2022 is monetizing Reels as quickly as possible .
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Apparently, the time spent watching short-form videos has more than doubled since last year, with 80% of that increase coming from Facebook. That’s why the company is reportedly redesigning its Instagram and Facebook to better short videos. Converting all video posts to Reels would give the company more content to share, which in turn would translate into more video watch time on the platform and greater potential ad. It’s worth noting that not all of Instagram’s experimental features are making it to the public, and it remains to be seen whether they will survive the testing phase.
Information source: engadget.com
