The digital ban on China by the Indian government has led to a flood of new replacement apps in the Indian market. Amid this, the demand for a short duration video app like TikTok has been particularly high and a giant has now entered the contest. Facebook has been testing its Instagram Reels feature for a while in a few other countries and looking at the sudden rise in demand, it has decided to release the feature to its Indian users as well.
The Reels feature will allow users to create short 15-second videos set to music tracks or other audio on Instagram. The videos format is already massively popular on Instagram. Video posts make up a third of all posts in India and about 45% of Instagram posts are 15 seconds or shorter according to Facebook India.
The feature was being tested since late last year in Brazil and was then tested in Germany and France last month. TikTok, which had its largest user base in India, being banned opened up the perfect market for Facebook to test its new feature in. Though other competitors like Chingari and Mitron are also fighting for the same space, Instagram’s existing user base gives it a humongous edge over the competition.
Reels will appear on Instagram’s Explore tab and can be shared with everyone, similar to TikTok, allowing public account users to reach an audience well beyond their follower base. Instagram will also allow users to share Reels as their Stories but this will mean that the Reel not appear in the Explore tab and act as a Story instead.
Content creators, irrespective of their background, will be able to expand their reach much better with this new feature. Several influencers like Ankush Bhaguna, Radhika Bangia, RJ Abhinav, Komal Pandey, Wondermunna, Mahathalli, Bhuvan Bam, Gippy Grewal, Rannvijay Singha, Ammy Virk and Varun Thakur among others have already hopped on the Reels train.
How to create Reels
Go to the Reels section on your Instagram camera or click on the camera icon while browsing through Reels. You will find a few tools on the left side of the screen.
Audio- Here you can select a song from the Instagram music library and pick the right snippet for your video. It will show you the lyrics if available.
Speed- You can choose your video playback speed using this option
Effects- You can select from a range of AR filters created by Instagram and content creators to change your look or add interesting AR effects to your video.
Timer- This can be used for recording your videos hands-free
Align- This feature helps you transition smoothly between your shots. This can be very useful for creating exciting effects.
You can further trim each shot to keep only as much as you need and then combine them before sharing.
It will be interesting to see what crazy content will be born out of this new Instagram feature as more and more creators start using it.
