

Instagram Makes Several Changes To Its App -Doubling Down On Its TikTok Rivalry
Instagram is making several updates to its platform, the largest of which focuses on its fast-growing competitor TikTok in new locations.
A key piece of real estate, Instagram will now feature its Reels video feature directly at the bottom of its app.
Instagram’s Reels videos are the answer to TikTok’s videos and were originally launched in July. Placing them in such a prominent place inside their own tab underlines the determination of Instagram to edge into the space of TikTok.
“We don’t take these changes lightly β we haven’t updated Instagram’s home screen in a big way for quite a while,” Adam Mosseri, the head of Facebook-owned Instagram, writes in a new blog post. The organization says one of the largest in the last 10 years is the revamp being undertaken today. “But how people create and enjoy culture has changed, and the biggest risk to Instagram is not that we change too fast, but that we don’t change and become irrelevant.”
Through the prior two years, both in the United States and worldwide, TikTok has experienced meteoric growth, raising alarm bells on Instagram. It started testing Reels overseas a year ago and made it available at a timely moment in August: just when it appeared the Trump Administration was heading to restrict TikTok in America.TikTok has endured averting that fate, and Instagram’s Reels’ ultimate success remains uncertain. Many users prefer to simply repost recordings of their TikTok videos via Reels, or use jokes and memes native to TikTok to build Reels. Instagram has not offered any details on the popularity of Reels.
Instagram will add a shopping tab to the bottom of its app in another update to its app, similar to where it puts the Reels tab. For Instagram, which has expended the past couple of years installing e-commerce functionality to keep users on the platform and entice companies looking for a niche to sell their items, this is also a big change. The capacity to label an item in a picture and a tool to shop and checkout directly inside Instagram were other similar additions.