#Hashtag: Instagram Reels starts testing 15-minute videos; see changes

In yet another move that strengthens the “Reels” section, Instagram begins testing this Tuesday (5th) an update to the platform’s videos. Now, all videos in the feed that are less than 15 minutes old will be published as Reels, and the “videos” tab will no longer exist. Content currently in this tab will also migrate to Reels.

The change is not yet final and will be tested in Brazil and South Korea. Brazil was the first country in the world to receive the launch of Reels, in 2019.

Since then, the section has been emulating several features of the competitor TikTok: vertical, looping, short videos, with creative editing tools and immersive character (infinite feed and video occupying the entire screen).

If consolidated, the new update will represent a significant change in one of the most traditional aspects of TikTok videos: brevity. Short videos are still the most common and popular on TikTok, but the increase in the duration limit also occurs there — all users can now post videos of up to 3 minutes, and a good part of the base is already able to publish content of up to 10 minutes .

In an interview with the Financial Times in July 2021, Adam Mosseri, Meta executive responsible for Instagram, made clear the new route that the platform has followed: “We are no longer a photo-sharing app”.

Mosseri also said that Facebook’s focus has shifted to competing with TikTok and YouTube in short videos: “​​Video is driving huge growth online for all platforms right now, and I think that’s an area where we need to work. most”.

TikTok, from China’s ByteDance, was the most downloaded app in the world in 2020 and is among the social networks with the highest number of monthly active users globally, ranking 6th in January 2022.

Here’s what changes in the new update on Instagram Reels:

• All videos under 15 minutes will be posted on Reels;

• Editing tools with creative features will be available for videos up to 15 minutes;

• The “videos” section no longer exists, and all videos will be gathered in the Reels tab.