Meta Adds New Creative Features to Facebook Reels, Allowing Longer Videos, to Take on TikTok

Meta, the company behind both Instagram and Facebook, has announced the expansion of its Facebook Reels feature, allowing users to post videos of up to 90 seconds in duration against the previous 60 seconds video length. The move comes several months after Meta launched support for longer Instagram Reels of up to 1.5 minutes, following TikTok's addition of videos that can be up to 10 minutes in length.

The new templates feature for Facebook Reels allows users to create new videos using the same structure as their recently watched reels. This is similar to TikTok's templating option. It also added "Grooves Feature" using Visual Beats Technology, which enables Reels users to automatically align and sync the motion in their videos to the beat of their favorite songs. This feature was first made available on Instagram Reels about eight months ago, and is now being added to Facebook Reels.

The move to expand Facebook Reels is alleged to be part of Meta's response to the threat posed by TikTok, one of its major rivals in the social media industry. Meta has seen Reels as a way to directly combat TikTok thereby adding it to company's major social platforms including Facebook and Instagram.

Besides the features longer Reels feature, Meta has improved on its user interfaces  and experience (UI/UX) and has recently brought Facebook and Instagram together by allowing for cross-posting between the two social networks. The cross-posting has mounted a more powerful counteroffensive in favor of Meta over its competitors.

Besides enhancing UI, this moves and other features such as templating, Grooves Feature and cross-posting have improved content engagements across Instagram and Facebook, giving both the company and creative users an advantage over their competitors.

Over the years, Meta companies (WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram) have remained the most popular social media company due to their commitment to meta improvement and the addition of new features. In particular, their introduction of Reels has been a major success, allowing users to create and share short-form videos. This has been a great way to engage with users and keep them interested in the platform.

Additionally, Facebook and Instagram have also implemented a variety of new features such as Stories, Shopping, and Groups, which have all helped to make the platform more engaging and user friendly. With this ongoing commitment to meta improvement and the addition of new features, Facebook and Instagram have been able to consistently remain at the top of the social media industry.