Instagram takes on TikTok, Kwai in Brazil with new video-music remix feature
- Instagram is testing a new feature, Reels, in Brazil with similarities to short-form video app TikTok
- “No two services are the same,” an Instagram spokeswoman said while acknowledging that TikTok is doing “big things” in the short video format
Instagram has launched a new video-music remix feature in Brazil, marking its entry into a market already dominated by Chinese-owned apps such as TikTok.
The new feature, Reels, allows users to make 15-second video clips set to music and share them as stories. Like TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based Bytedance, Reels allows users to select a song from a music library and speed up or slow down the music.
“TikTok is doing big things in this format, as have other apps and features,” an Instagram spokeswoman said in an email. “No two services are the same, and this responsiveness to consumer demand is competition at work and one of the long-time hallmarks of the tech sector. It increases choice, which is good for consumers.”
Facebook-owned Instagram chose Brazil as the testing ground for the new feature because of its “vibrant and active community”, according to the spokeswoman.