Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels • Hacker News Board

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#261

Post by snazz » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 10:39 PM UTC

baby wrote: post #180

ffggvv wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

78% of internet users aged 18-24 use Snapchat Roughly eight-in-ten Snapchat users ages 18 to 29 (77%) say they use the app every day, including 68% who say they do so multiple times day. https://www.omnicoreagency.com/snapchat-statistics/

Your source says 50%. Still higher than I thought. I’m wondering what are the numbers for insta

That 53% number meant that 53% of Snapchat's American users are 15-25, not that 53% of 15-25-year-olds in the US use Snapchat. Scroll down a little further to see that 78% of Internet users between 18 and 24 years old use Snapchat.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#262

Post by l33tbro » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 10:41 PM UTC

fatjokes wrote: post #249

> Facebook launches its TikTok clone, Instagram Reels FTFY. I'm being facetious of course. The real clone here is being done by the US gov't, who is copying the Chinese playbook: keep out a foreign company by political means, thus encouraging local competitors. I guess it's really true that you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

> keep out a foreign company by political means, thus encouraging the domestic tech oligopoly.

FTFY ;)

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#263

Post by RedditKon » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 10:46 PM UTC

Apocryphon wrote: post #151

The Congressional antitrust hearings were a week ago.

Which is probably why Zuk is doubling down on Reels instead of trying to buy TikTok - he know it'd never get approved.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#264

Post by verst » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 10:48 PM UTC

Today I tried posting a Reel. This wasn't intuitive as the flow for doing this is similar to creating a Story. When selecting an existing video as a reel I do not have a way to edit it or add overlays and the total reel duration is 15 seconds vs 60 on TikTok.

Discovering reels is tricky also. I have to go to search and click on the word reels within the random suggested reel at the top.

What is more - I want reels to be separate from whom I follow on Instagram. I want to follow certain content creators for their reels, but do not want to see their stories or photo stream. I also don't want them to show up as people I follow on my main Instagram profile.

The TikTok features for creating content, discovering it, replying to it (remix / duet etc) and just the responsiveness of the UI make it much more fun and pleasant to use.

Reels does not meaningfully compete with TikTok. It will only appeal to some of the existing user base, but not attract TikTok users.

FYI I'm 34. I post music, running, travel and random adventure clips to Instagram, TikTok and other places.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#265

Post by jquery » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 10:49 PM UTC

razster wrote: post #238

carlosdp wrote: post #43

> Reels' video distribution algorithm will resemble TikTok's: users will see the most popular videos at the moment, rather than a selection tailored to their individual profile. That's not how TikTok works, the feed is really good at tailoring to the stuff you actually like to watch. It's a big part of why it's so popular. > Reels differs from TikTok thanks to Instagram's augmented reality effects, which let users ov…

I dislike Reel already. I follow wood working, RC cars, and metal fab/3D printing/CNC. Now when I browse it's nothing but women jumping around and showing off their clothes... WTH!? So I start saying, not interested to all of that, still spams me with it.

>nothing but women jumping around

That’s basically how TikTok started.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#266

Post by jamestciv » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 10:56 PM UTC

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…

>perhaps commerce will be jammed in somehow?

Commerce is already integrated into the stories feed, not only with advertisements as you scroll through stories, but with "swipe-ups" that users can use to sell or advertise products with.

As much as this article paints a messy picture of Instagram as an app, it's still wildly popular and these issues don't seem to be hurting its popularity.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#267

Post by Jimjamb98 » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 10:57 PM UTC

subpixel wrote: post #112

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 recently got back onto Instagram for family photos and I still have no idea, or real interest in learning, what stories are. I'm too busy fuming at the avalanche of sponsored posts. It's an utter train wreck.

Stories are simply for things you want to be temporarily visible instead of permanently visible to your followers.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#268

Post by corford » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 10:57 PM UTC

magic7s wrote: post #251

I have a hunch that TikTok fakes the amount of likes that users post. I’ve heard people say their first post goes viral. It’s an interesting strategy. Young person posts a TikTok, “get famous”, keeps posting.

I don't think it's faking. That behaviour sounds broadly inline with https://www.veed.io/grow/reverse-engineering-how-tiktok-algo...

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#269

Post by blisseyGo » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 11:13 PM UTC

beenBoutIT wrote: post #122

Miner49er wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well there already is a competitor - TikTok. As it stands, if I only care about the TikTok/Reels functionality, I'm going with TikTok. It doesn't come with all the extra bloat. I guess we'll see what happens with the potential Trump ban and Microsoft acquisition though.

If Microsoft acquires TikTok how would they go about vetting all of the code to remove any potentially malicious components?

Anyone else think Facebook launching this might stop Microsoft from buying TikTok now? Depending upon how much money they need, I think Microsoft not having any past social media presence might scare them taking on Facebook as a competitor.

Re: Facebook launches its TikTok rival, Instagram Reels

#270

Post by blisseyGo » Wed, Aug 05, 2020, 11:15 PM UTC

developer2 wrote: post #258

tanilama wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TikTok however is the opposite of WeChat where the interface is dead simple and intuitive. What is Reels immitating here?

Facebook is in the slow process of finally dying. Their ownership of Instagram is sustaining them for the time being, but they are now desperate to steal some market share away from Reddit, TikTok, and WeChat. Facebook is far more desperate than they're letting on publicly. They have already been on the decline for multiple years; the competition is now finally speeding that process up dramatically. When was the last…

Are you referring to Facebook as a company or Facebook - the product? I do think the Facebook product itself is dying. But their other ventures like IG, WhatsApp etc are doing very well.