Following India’s controversial decision to ban TikTok in the country, Instagram Reels was launched in the early testing phase.
India recently banned TikTok along with other Chinese apps in the country over privacy concerns. Instagram Reels is capitalizing on that with its recent expansion into the testing phase. Moreover, the test phase came in days after Facebook confirms that it will shut down Lasso on July 10.
Apart from India, Instagram Reels is also going live in several countries, including Brazil, France, and Germany. There are rumors that Instagram is also launching Reels in other regions.
Instagram Reels grabs the headline
Instagram’s take on the video-sharing platform is getting a lot of positive response. The company is now expanding its platform into India, a country known for its social media presence. The expansion came in after India decided to ban the popular app TikTok over privacy issues.
India has a large tech market. Tech giants are flocking into the market to take a piece of the action. However, India is a tough market to enter.
.@instagram launching #Reels in India to fill the void left by @TikTok_IN's departure isn't apples 2 apples. TikTok works b/c of the algo, not b/c peeps watch influencers & friends (as on insta). Platform social status is important, but the algo is #1 rzn https://t.co/V8bAmucixU
— Sunny Dhillon (@SunDhillon) July 7, 2020
Recently, Facebook confirms that it is pulling the plug off of Lasso, its TikTok clone. This simply shows how hard it is to conquer the Indian tech market. Lasso is a completely separate app, and it is not integrated into Facebook’s social media platform.
On the other hand, Instagram Reels is designed to be well integrated into the platform itself. This means that users are not required to download or use a separate app to use Reels. This is an easy integration feature that makes Reels completely different from Lasso.
Reels allows users to create and share short videos, just like TikTok. It also features several video editing tools for users to use. The only major difference is that Reels does not have the two tab feed, which is present in TikTok.
Privacy concerns
The main reason why TikTok was banned in India is because of privacy concerns. Many tech companies, including Instagram and Facebook, are facing the same scrutiny. However, it appears that India trusts Instagram better than TikTok.
Before the ban, TikTok was able to amass more than 200 million users in India. This is a massive blow to the China-based tech firm.
As for Instagram Reels, the platform is still facing quite a lot of hurdles despite the TikTok ban. Indian-made video-sharing apps like Mitron, Roposo, and Chingari are seeing quite a surge in user activity recently.
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