There are a million things you can say about TikTok and its effect on the social media landscape, but the one undeniable fact is the app's massive presence in almost everyone's life. Instagram and, by proxy, Meta now want a bigger slice of the vertical video pie, with Instagram testing a full-screen vertical scrolling feed, like the one that keeps you on TikTok.
In an effort to grow the platform "in a world where photos and videos are mobile first," Instagram manager Adam Mosseri has been very outspoken in saying he thinks media should be more busy on their screen and be more immersive. In this new feed, you'll still use a bottom-mounted navigation bar with the discover page, reels, shopping, and profile, but instead of having negative space between posts like you're used to, scrolling down will take you directly to the next image or video.
📣 Testing Stream Changes 📣 We're testing a new immersive viewing experience on the main home stream. If you're in the test, check it out and let me know what you think. 👇🏼 pic.twitter.com/dmM5RzpicQMay 3, 2022
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Obviously, Meta's ultimate goal is to create a platform that rivals TikTok and its infamously powerful recommendation algorithm. The new flow style is still in preliminary testing and is only being rolled out to users of the app's beta program.
As it stands, Instagram hasn't monetized Reels in the same way it has with Stories, which leaves plenty of room for ad review of a new Instagram feed style. According to TechCrunch's Q2022 20 earnings call, monetizing Reels, Instagram's current TikTok competitor, will likely take a few years. On that same earnings call, the company revealed that Reels is growing rapidly, with XNUMX% of time spent on Instagram now dedicated to Reels.
Analysis: The TikTokification of the Internet
TikTok's influence is incredible. Following the unfortunate demise of Vine, ByteDance, TikTok's Chinese parent company, touted TikTok (formerly Music.ly) as a haven for short video creators and promised a powerful algorithm for users to personalize their streams. TikTok quickly exploded in popularity, taking social platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube by storm.
Soon after, just when most platforms had already copied Snap's dying stories feature, we saw the launch of Snapchat's Reels, Shorts, and Spotlight, all trying to steal the limelight from TikTok, and with more or less success. Even Byte (Vine 2.0 for the uninitiated) couldn't really take off after TikTok established itself as the go-to video platform.
I could write a million opinion pieces about TikTok's dominance in video, its algorithms, and the psychological effects on young people due to screen addictions, and more. Many of them wouldn't be too far off base, but the formula produces data, and the data makes good money. Even if you don't use TikTok, you've probably watched a lot of short videos. It's no wonder Meta, perhaps the infamous king of personal data scandals, wants to have TikTok's cake and eat it too.
The only way Meta/Instagram could reasonably compete with TikTok is with its planned monetization and a more stable creator economy. A large number of creators on TikTok often complain about random account attacks, shadowbans, temporary post blocks, and more. no support or information about disciplinary action from TikTok staff. The best creators also talk about how little they earn from the so-called "creator fund". Among his detractors is everyone's favorite scientist (after Bill Nye), Hank Green. Green did an in-depth analysis of the platform and its monetization compared to other platforms. His main thoughts on this are "When TikTok does more, creators do less."
If Instagram wants to steal creators from the giant, it will have to pay in several ways.