American social media giant Facebook is testing a feature on its photo and video sharing app Instagram that allows some content creators in India to share short video clips, known as reels, on their Facebook accounts.
In the test, some Indian users who create the 30-second long reels on Instagram will have the option of having them recommended on Facebook. Additionally, the social media giant said it will have its own version of the reels feature on the main app.
“In India, we’re testing the ability for Instagram creators to choose to have their Reels recommended on Facebook. Creators can reach new audiences and people can create and discover more entertaining content,” a Facebook spokeswoman said.
Instagram’s reels feature is the company’s version of Chinese ByteDance’s TikTok wherein users can record short mobile-friendly videos, and add special effects and soundtracks pulled from a music library.
It was launched close on the heels of TikTok’s ban in India June last year following a border clash between the two countries. The Chinese app had created a craze among Indian users for short videos and was immensely impacted due to the ban in its largest market.
The success of TikTok has prompted many social media companies to add short-video services to their platforms, with Snap’s Snapchat rolling out Spotlight last November.
Meanwhile, Facebook has started enablingusers in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to use its “music on Facebook and Instagram” feature.
The feature, which was introduced globally in October 2018, allows Facebook and Instagram users to add music to their images and videos on their posts, which are short user-generated multimedia collections that can be posted to the users’ Facebook account.
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