When Instagram launched its short-form-video feature Reels in August, the Facebook-owned platform made its first move to directly compete with TikTok.
The feature was met with mixed reviews and has since been flooded by watermarked TikTok videos and trends driven by the TikTok community.
Now, Instagram is trying to change that.
Instagram announced on Tuesday that it would update how it recommends Reels videos across the platform, including the Reels tab, suggested Reels in the main feed, and in the Explore page. And without saying the word "TikTok" explicitly, Instagram is clearly aiming to counter the swarm of TikToks that have dominated Reels.
The company said the update will make videos with visible watermarks from other apps "less discoverable."
TikTok videos automatically save with a watermark of the app's logo if that video is created and edited on TikTok, so when any creator re-uploads a TikTok to Instagram, that logo carries over. Other TikTok rivals like Snapchat's "Spotlight" and YouTube's "Shorts" have also been flooded with repurposed TikTok videos.
Instagram will also recommend videos that are blurry and low resolution less frequently.
"This change is about improving the quality of recommended Reels overall, not singling out one app," an Instagram spokesperson told Insider. "There is a variety of recycled content on Reels, and we're making these changes because we've learned through community feedback that people would rather see original and authentic content. Recommended surfaces, like the Reels tab, are designed to be a stage for inspiring, trending, entertaining, best-in-class Reels and we hope this change will improve our recommendations for our community."
Here's what Instagram is now telling creators to avoid on Reels:
- Reels that are blurry due to low resolution
- Videos that have been "visibly recycled from other apps" and contain "watermarks or logos"
- Uploads that have a "border around" the video
- Videos where a "majority of the image covered by text"
- And anything that breaks Instagram's community guidelines
Instagram had already been encouraging creators to post original content "created with the Reels camera," so this update to the Reels ranking system won't come as too much of a surprise.
But still, it could change things for creators in a big way.
So far, Reels has been a 'magic bullet' for growth for some on Instagram
Using Reels, some influencers and content creators experienced a new surge in growth on Instagram by being discovered through the TikTok-like feed.
Influencer Christine Tran Ferguson gained about 40,000 followers in three months after her Reels started to rack up hundreds of thousands of views on Instagram.
"I haven't had this growth in a long time since I started Instagram," Ferguson told Insider.
Rachel Reichenbach, an artist and small business owner, said she recently had a one-on-one session with an Instagram representative in which they gave recommendations for how often to post. They recommended she post four to seven Reels per week.
Creating that volume of Reels without recycling TikTok content could be difficult for some creators. Instagram told Insider that videos uploaded from creators' camera rolls won't be affected by this update, however, as long as they don't have a watermark.
Still, creators who have grown on Instagram by repurposing their TikTok content could be in for a rude awakening as this update rolls out.
