Meta is becoming the Oprah of social video: You’re getting a Reel, and you’re getting a Reel, and you’re getting a Reel, everyone’s getting Reels!
The company formerly known as Facebook has made the decision to turn all videos on its original platform into Reels. That change will allow Facebook to unite video creation flows that were previously kept separate.
In a blog post, Meta wrote that “all videos on Facebook will be shared as Reels.” To ensure that users can still upload videos of different lengths, Meta will remove all runtime restrictions from Reels. The resulting videos will “not have any length or format restrictions.”
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The change sounds similar to a monetization update Facebook announced last October. In both cases, creators were frustrated and/or confused by an overabundance of options on a platform that has evolved many times across its two-decade existence. By choosing to simplify and consolidate its programs, Facebook is developing the sort of streamlined creator experience that users of other social platforms have come to expect.
“Facebook remains a home for all types of video – short, long, and Live,” reads the recent blog post. “We will gradually roll out these changes globally to profiles and Pages over the coming months to help you create, share, and discover reels more easily on Facebook.”
With Reels, Meta has found a reliable foothold that lets it keep pace with rivals like TikTok and YouTube in the world of vertically-oriented video. As Reels accounts for bigger and bigger pieces of Meta’s revenue while also bringing substantial creator earnings to both Facebook and Instagram, Mark Zuckerberg and co. are doing whatever they can to make the format more visible. There have been rumors regarding a standalone version of Instagram Reels, and as part of the latest update, Facebook’s Video tab will be renamed to reflect its focus on Reels.
When Meta chooses to go all-in on a particular type of video, the results aren’t always even for creators. Its ill-fated 2017 pivot to video led to a legal battle with videomakers who felt short-changed by the limited impact of their content. That dispute didn’t stop Facebook from refocusing on video in 2022, and it’s now making Reels into the be-all and end-all of that push. Here’s hoping this platform-wide initiative goes a little better for creators than some of Meta’s previous maneuvers.
