Following TikTok’s undeniable success, with more than a billion monthly active users, social-media giants including Meta and Google have moved towards short-form video tools, hoping to catch up.
Instagram’s offering is Reels, a new feature that allows users to film or upload video clips of up to 60 seconds, which they can edit, sound dub, or add effects to before sharing them on the platform. Similarly, Google launched YouTube Shorts on its video-sharing platform.
Users on these platforms have expressed their disappointment and disinterest, with many pointing out that TikTok already serves all their short-form video content needs and other platforms should stay true to what made them unique in the past.
Now, Reddit seems to be following suit, changing up its design to split text and video posts into separate feeds going forward. Similar to TikTok, these posts will not just show the ones shared from their subscriptions, it will also include recommended videos and text posts.
Talking about the change to Sky News, Reddit’s chief product officer Pali Bhat said: “Our focus is not just on the video, but the conversation around the video.
“That’s what makes the experience truly ‘Reddity’ — all things on Reddit are people-powered. Every single post or comment gets upvoted and downvoted, and that’s what determines what rises up and down.”
Since the announcement, Reddit users have made their feelings about it known, with one user posting: “I think Reddit should focus on what makes Reddit unique instead of trying to beat Meta or TikTok at their game.”
Another highly upvoted comment said: “New Reddit interface is basically completely intended for content consumption.”
Thirdly, one popular comment read: “I beg you to not become a participant in the movement that is actively destroying attention spans and destroys the core purpose of a website.”
