You’ll Love the Latest Updates for Instagram Stories and Reels
Instagram never fails to impress, but they’ve been seriously busy lately. It feels like new updates are being added on a daily basis. From adding Shops to Instagram Reels, testing IG Lives with three users, and creating personal fundraising capabilities for approved users, it’s been a busy year for the ‘gram. The latest updates to the app are editing tools for Reels and Stories, which is great news for those of you who love creating artful videos to share with your followers. And, if you’re like me and are also an avid user of TikTok, these updates will look pretty familiar.
You can now voiceover your videos on Instagram Reels, much like you can on TikTok. This means that you can film a clip, and then go back after the fact and narrate what’s going on in the clips. This is especially helpful for day-in-the-life vloggers, health and wellness creators who may be sharing a workout routine or a new and delicious recipe on their page – the opportunities are really endless. Voiceovers and new opportunities for sound editing on Reels and Stories are just another step in the TikTok direction by Reels, which makes total sense. If Reels is truly hoping to compete with TikTok, having at least all the same editing capabilities is a great place to start.
The updates and TikTok similarities don’t stop there! Instagram has also started to watermark Reels with a “Reels” logo, just like TikTok has been doing with their videos. That way, whether you save a video or share it outside of Instagram, it will be evident that it was originally a Reel.
It will be interesting to see if Instagram begins to remove TikToks that were loaded to the platform as Reels – I know I’ve certainly seen many Reels with TikTok watermarks on them. There is of course the workaround of saving your videos prior to posting so you can post them on both platforms, or recording them outside of either platform and uploading them to both, but time will tell. One thing is for certain, creators are crafty. I’m certain users of both platforms will find a way to share their content wherever they please!
Instagram has not confirmed the full rollout of these new updates, but some users have reported seeing them after a quick update of the app. Do you have access to these new tools? Are you starting to see watermarked Reels pop up on your Explore page? Where do you fall in the great Instagram Reels vs. TikTok debate? Let us know in the comments below!
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