NEW DELHI: Instagram parent Facebook, which has been pushing its short video format Reels aggressively in India, on Thursday announced a new feature Remix for the app. The feature offers a way to record a Reels video alongside a video from another user. It is similar to TikTok’s Duets feature, which also lets users react to or interact with another person’s video content while creating their own. TikTok was banned in India in June last year.
Facebook allowed Indian creators to share their Reels content on Facebook accounts resulting in higher visibility and reach. The was aimed at boosting Reels in scale.
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The feature is primarily aimed at making the platform more connected and less passive where more users can collaborate with each other.
With the new feature, the screen splits into the original reel and the new one and users can start recording their remix. Once recorded, users can control the volume for the original audio, their recorded audio, and add a voiceover.
Users can track remixed content through Instagram’s Activity tab.
“Since the launch of Reels last year, several features have been added to it. This includes extending the recording time limit up to 30 seconds, extending the countdown timer to 10 seconds while recording, and adding options to trim and delete clips from the timeline. There have also been updates to the audio features, where you can now save audio clips, share audio pages, and browse for trending songs,” Instagram said in a post.
Instagram Reels, launched in July last year, has found traction among brands across fashion and lifestyle, beauty, personal care, food and beverages and travel categories.
Instagram said videos make up for over a third of posts on its platform in India with two out of the five songs most shared globally on Reels from Indian artistes.
Reels, according to Instagram, provides a great opportunity for creators and brands to be discovered on dedicated surfaces, Reels tab and in Explore section. Brands can work with influencers to create content or their own Reels content, which trends on Instagram, increasing their chance to be discovered. Reels is currently free.
Recently, data shared by Indian government showed that Facebook has almost double the number of users (410 million) than Instagram (210 million) in India.
