There's been plenty of talk about how Instagram taken ideas from TikTok in recent years in a bid to appeal to Gen Z. But it seems Facebook's also taking cues from the rival social media platform.
While there are reports that there might be a TikTok photo app in the works, making the TikTok the new old Instagram, Meta's Facebook is updating its mobile video player to switch all video to the vertical format used by TikTok and Instagram Reels by default. And it looks like we can expect to see a lot more video content too.
In a blog, Facebook's owner Meta, said the new video player will launch on iOS and Android in the US and Canada over the next few weeks and roll out globally in the following months. Reels, Facebook Live, and longer videos will all default to a full-screen vertical format. This replaces the previous use of multiple formats: vertical for Reels, horizontal for longer videos.
However, it will still be possible to watch videos in a horizontal format since the updated video player will include a full-screen option allowing users to flip their phone to watch horizontal videos in landscape orientation. The video player will also add a slider at the bottom to allow users skip to different parts of the video, and there will be pause and rewind controls.
It remains to be seen how users will welcome the change. The popularity of Instagram and TikTok may be part of the reason that Facebook has lost popularity, but the platform has also been criticised for wanting to be too much. The UI is now so cluttered and labyrinthine that it's hard to find what you're looking for, and the deluge of sponsored content means users rarely see less and less of the content from friends that they want.
Meta says that as well as the new player, it will show "more relevant video recommendations" on its Feed and Video Tab, and will "show even more Reels to meet the growing demand for this format." That's not going to do down well with the people complaining about Reels taking over their Instagram feed. It also suggests social media platforms may continue to become more and more similar to one another.
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