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Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

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Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#51

Post by dilap »

snowwrestler wrote: post #38

I still cannot believe that Twitter bought Vine, couldn't figure out what to do with it, shut it down, then had to bring it back as a read-only archive because there was so much popular outcry. At the time, the story was that all these other platforms like Instagram and Snapchat were adopting short videos, so Vine could not compete anymore. But obviously it was possible to compete, since an entirely new service --Tik…

My take on it is Twitter just isn't, as a company, very good at making software. This is from external observation and a couple of reports from friends who used to work there.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#52

Post by wy35 »

nikofeyn wrote: post #41
snowwrestler wrote: post #38

I still cannot believe that Twitter bought Vine, couldn't figure out what to do with it, shut it down, then had to bring it back as a read-only archive because there was so much popular outcry. At the time, the story was that all these other platforms like Instagram and Snapchat were adopting short videos, so Vine could not compete anymore. But obviously it was possible to compete, since an entirely new service --Tik…

just as a note, tiktok was not an entirely new service. they bought and then transformed musical.ly.

Technically, the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, is what the US Tiktok was based off of, and Douyin was launched in 2016 prior to the 2017 musical.ly acquisition.

But yes, US TikTok is absolutely built off of musical.ly services. A lot of the TikTok API URLs still have musical.ly domains.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#53

Post by nsilvestri »

Invictus0 wrote: post #44
nsilvestri wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instagram didn't "win out" against Facebook. They fulfill two different roles with a few duplicated features.

Yes it did. Instagram is cool and Facebook is not. Now Snap is cool and Instagram is fading.

I am on the older end of Gen Z and have noticed the opposite. Snap was cool from 2014 until 2019 but now Insta has a slight edge. I still use both but it varies by whom I'm talking to: some friends I talk to on Snap and some I do on Insta.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#54

Post by k__ »

thekyle wrote: post #39
OzzyB wrote: post #9

Quoting from the excellent blog post[1] submitted here yesterday[0] that stole my morning workout time: " Instagram is some strange hybrid mix of social and interest graph, and now it’s also a jumble of formats, with a Stories feed relegated to a top bar in the app while the more stagnant and less active original feed continues to run vertically as the default. Messaging is pushed to a separate pane and also served b…

I think the trouble is that it's really hard to start a new social network from scratch, so when Facebook wants to compete in a new segment they just tack on the feature to one of their existing social products. However, as you pointed out this leads to feature creep and pushes users to simpler platforms. What I would do to solve this problem if I were at Facebook is to start new features out on an established platfo…

"they just tack on the feature to one of their existing social products"

After the rise of Snapchat Facebook tacked on stories to FB, IG, and WA.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#55

Post by JoeSmithson »

Invictus0 wrote: post #44
nsilvestri wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instagram didn't "win out" against Facebook. They fulfill two different roles with a few duplicated features.

Yes it did. Instagram is cool and Facebook is not. Now Snap is cool and Instagram is fading.

It's similar to how Bruce Springsteen and The Rolling Stones aren't cool, but still sell out stadiums.

Facebook (the company) will probably settle into a stable pattern like the BBC's radio lineup, where listeners roll from Radio 1, to Radio 2, to Radio 4 as they age.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#56

Post by skellera »

Invictus0 wrote: post #44
nsilvestri wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instagram didn't "win out" against Facebook. They fulfill two different roles with a few duplicated features.

Yes it did. Instagram is cool and Facebook is not. Now Snap is cool and Instagram is fading.

Pretty sure Instagram won the Snap battle when they copied stories. Not sure who still considers Snap a major contender in the long run.

I wouldn’t say Instagram is fading. Just that Tiktok is keeping the younger generation away from it. Snap is losing on both sides because of them.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#57

Post by Theodores »

dleslie wrote: post #42
hart_russell wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's like Facebook didn't learn their own lesson from... Facebook. The biggest reason I left Facebook was because the platform became a jumbled mess instead of its original clean interface. It's the reason why Facebook originally won out against Myspace and why Instagram won out against Facebook.

What lesson would that be? Facebook is hugely successful.

Facebook is always there for people but it is not the talk of the town any more.

A decade ago you could have everyone on it for their entire lunchbreaks, deep-stalking their mates. But nowadays people are not engaged with it compulsively.

Younger people don't use it because their parents are on it.

Content isn't made by people for Facebook because it won't show in their friends feeds.

Advertisers that are small to medium size businesses don't get a return from spending their money there, so they have left too.

Before Facebook there was the printed telephone book and the Yellow Pages. People and businesses had to be in the phone books because someone might want to contact them that way. But the Internet and email came along. Facebook is a bit like that, people are there but no more engaged than they are with a printed telephone book.

Facebook bought WhatsApp and Instagram to keep the same eyeballs. Because of that Facebook are successful.

But TikTok is the new, cool app in town. 80 million users in the US apparently, not all of them teenage girls.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#58

Post by tehsauce »

Invictus0 wrote: post #44
nsilvestri wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instagram didn't "win out" against Facebook. They fulfill two different roles with a few duplicated features.

Yes it did. Instagram is cool and Facebook is not. Now Snap is cool and Instagram is fading.

Agree. Snap used to be cool but Instagram sailed past it.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#59

Post by danpalmer »

me_me_me wrote: post #48
dleslie wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What lesson would that be? Facebook is hugely successful.

Well yes, but it has limited growth potential. Latest generations are not interested joining it. So in 10 years it will be a dying platform. Kodak didn't die when invented digital cameras, but it was a downhill ride towards inevitable cliff.

This is just a branding thing though right? We've had all sorts of social networks that each rise and fall. If Facebook has the formula for a successful network and can apply that formula over and over again that's pretty successful.

Facebook is probably the the company most able to claim to have achieved this, with facebook.com and Instagram being two big hits, arguably Messenger and WhatsApp too. TikTok is probably the biggest sign that they have actually failed to hit a 3rd generation.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#60

Post by jug »

surround wrote: post #47

Facebook launched Lasso as its own app two years ago. I’m not sure if there were any differences between it and TikTok, but either way, it failed miserably. https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/01/lasso-facebook-tiktok-shut...

FB also has a Stories feature as Instagram, in turn from Snapchat, but I barely see anyone use it while everyone and their cat (literally) use Instagram Stories.

Also, FB took a more advanced friend list concept from Google+ but few use or know how it works. (Like how “Acquintances” are your friends but they are pushed down by the algorithm)

It is apparent that it’s hard to just shoehorn different usage patterns due to different social cultures evolving on the respective networks. Let’s see how they do this time...

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