Six weeks ago, in an effort to catch up with the hugely popular TikTok, Instagram introduced Reels, a service for posting video clips of people dancing on skates and making homemade Hot Pockets. But so far the verdict from users and advertisers is that Reels is not much of a threat.
TikTok users complain that Reels’ video editing tools are limited and that they don’t allow them to add as many special effects to their videos, such as slow motion. And some of the younger Generation Z users said that Instagram, the social media service teens turned to a few years ago, is now primarily the place where older people hang out.
For Instagram and its parent company Facebook, the stakes are high. Reels is your latest effort to keep up with the latest social media trends and, by extension, maintain dominance for your ads.
However, the competitive landscape is uncertain. President Trump threatened to shut down TikTok, owned by a Chinese company, over national security concerns. Since then, after TikTok proposed a deal involving Oracle and Walmart, Trump tentatively approved the combination and questioned it.
What’s clear is that Reels has yet to gain many users, according to mobile app data analytics firm Sensor Tower. If it had, it probably would have been reflected in an increase in the number of downloads from the Instagram app. But the number of installs by U.S. Instagram users from August 5 to September 15 amounted to 4.7 million, the same number as from June 24 to August 4, according to Sensor Tower.
Influencers, who are paid by brands to promote their products to their thousands of followers, generally agree that Reels lacks some of the conveniences of TikTok. Therefore, they don’t spend a lot of time on it, if at all.
An Instagram spokesperson says Reels is working to “improve the experience” for users, though no major updates have been rolled out yet. It’s also testing a reels tab on the Instagram app’s home screen in some countries, a spokesperson said, which would increase the reels’ visibility for Instagram’s 1 billion users.
Instagram declined to reveal the number of users Reels has. Instead, as proof of Reels’ appeal, he pointed to several high-profile influencers who are using the service to make videos focused on food, beauty and dance.
But to attract some of the top influencers to Reels, Instagram is covering the costs of producing their videos.
Still, several influencers now on Reels use it simply to post their TikTok videos, which doesn’t require a lot of extra effort. They also say that it helps them show their social media portfolio to advertisers, who want to reach TikTokers but don’t use the service.
“A lot of clients find me through [Instagram],” Operamericano says, referring to the brands that do business with her. But “TikTok is my main platform.”
The reels, either intentionally or coincidentally, debuted around the same time that President Trump threw the future of TikTok into uncertainty. Since then, TikTok owner ByteDance has proposed to expand the service and make enterprise software company Oracle TikTok the “trusted technology provider.
There are reasons for optimism. Interest in Reels skyrocketed when it debuted, based on the number of times users searched for it on Google, according to Sebastian. After slowing down for several weeks, it is now making modest gains again, with reel searches increasing 15% during the week of September 9 compared to the previous week. However, searches are still four times lower now than they were during the week Reels debuted.
Reels has a great opportunity to become a dominant competitor in short form videos. But until he manages to improve his characteristics, modern youth will keep dancing to earn big money on TikTok.
