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I like that they asked actual users, and provided actual examples; it's something I've always felt off about Instagram's Reels vs TikTok. However the takeaway i

I like that they asked actual users, and provided actual examples; it's something I've always felt off about Instagram's Reels vs TikTok. However the takeaway is that your TikTok feed is curated by hand by artisan robots vs Instagram is curated by lizards who only care about data. Both companies are completely data driven with some amazing engineers; but why is the Reels product boring, while TikTok is engaging has to be something other than TikTok pulled the "wholesome" lever. (There was a ~month where I was getting incredibly depressing sideshows, so I don't think tiktok is 100% wholesome). My theory has been that people have been conditioned out of posting to Instagram (if you don't have a literally perfect life, then why post) and as a result Instagram just has less content to draw upon. I think this effort to chase TikTok isn't going to pan out because "regular" people aren't posting to Instagram.

biotinker 4y ago
The problem with asking "actual users" in this way, is that it fundamentally ties the user's pre-existing conception of these apps to their responses. If a user had been served the same content on Reels that they were on TikTok, it's difficult to see them having the same reaction.
- thematrixturtle 4y ago
  But they weren't? You can't just discount Reels having worse content.
- stainforth 4y ago
  An actual scientific experiment would have like recently fallen away Amish teens compare these apps having never used them.
  - permo-w 4y ago
    or present them with the videos through some kind of neutral UI the UI itself can be tested separately
lern_too_spel 4y ago
Maybe TikTok trains on product data and validates on expert human rater data? This is a strategy that search engines used to use. Maybe they still do, but they used to too.
IgorPartola 4y ago
As a millennial I can tell you exactly why TikTok is better: 1. The Reels algorithm is simplistic as fuck. I was scrolling through Instagram recently and a three reel “ad” came up. I accidentally tapped on the center one and it turned out to be a pimple popping video. Now every reel I see is that. No exceptions. I am sure if I actually watched more Reels I would get better content but that’s work. 2. Reels are often poor quality. What I see is mostly life hacks that are actually really stupid or jokes that never pay off. 3. TikTok has a creator culture that seems far superior to Reels. What Facebook/Instagram seem to fail to realize is that the problem they have isn’t a lack of a video platform but rather a lack culture. TikTok somehow did foster a really cool culture of people creating content, perhaps using their stitches feature. 4. Instagram is a photo sharing platform. Imagine if every other thing you saw on TikTok was a still photo. It would be jarring. That’s the current experience with reels. 5. I don’t know if this is actually true but it feels to me that you can get a lot more exposure quickly on TikTok than with Reels. I don’t post TikTok videos but know enough people who do and it seems they are very much able to get tens of thousands of views with minimal effort and while being relatively new to the platform. I don’t think you can get those numbers with Reels. 6. TikTok nailed ads. They are obvious, easy to skip, and not jarring at all. Instagram is a mess. 7. I come to Instagram to seek specific kind of content from my friends. I get reels from total strangers. I come to TikTok to get lols from random strangers and sometimes see friends. This is very personal but this is a major reason for me to use both and to dislike Reels.
- fucyfdjrgg 4y ago
  I agree with all of this and I think the only thing I would add is that Tiktok understood the assignment was to be a mobile app. Everything about Tiktok is streamlined for mobile from the menus, to the time allotments, to a myriad of other design choices. Mobile is the future and, while I don't mean this to be snide towards pc enthusiasts, I find that a lot of people in my generation (millenials) and farther back just cannot comprehend how enjoyable a well designed mobile experience can be because they're stuck in old mindsets and habits. But Gen Z is growing up with phones that don't suck in their hands and the status quo of 'good enough' mobile apps is eventually going to be subverted by apps like TikTok imo that actually embrace mobile as a valid primary medium and not just as a lucrative lowest-common-denominator market.
helsinkiandrew 4y ago
> I think this effort to chase TikTok isn't going to pan out because "regular" people aren't posting to Instagram. For me that isn't the case - I follow mostly "regular" people and enjoy it, but... The problem I have with Instagram is that when I open the app I want to see the photos that people I've followed have posted since I last opened, it in time order. Yet It's quite a struggle not to see reels or suggested posts or people posting spam. 50% of the time I open IG the first post shown to me is from a hashtag I follow but its an image of an attractive young women with a very loose connection to the hashtag. By copying other successful paradigms within IG and FB, Meta are destroying what remains of the products and users they have. I occasionally use TikTok but don't want to see a weak version of it on IG
- sytelus 4y ago
  This is an issue that is killing FB/Insta and I am not sure why nobody in Meta seems to get this. Apps attract people with certain expectations and mindset. When I want to login to FB/Insta, I want to see posts from people I know. Unfortunately, I made a mistake to like posts from few groups and that was basically the end of my newsfeed. Now all I get is posts from the grops from random people. Eventually it becomes same-old same-old and you quit. But here's the most braindead thing FB has done: They actually have feature called "show first" which I tried to use it to force FB show posts from friends and not from groups. But some PM there probably made decision that this is not a good idea and forced to limit to only 30 people! So, now when I log in to FB, I get few posts from 30 people and then it's garbage from groups again. It is beyond me how no one can see these issue there.
- AlexandrB 4y ago
  Ironically by pushing Reels so hard Instagram has been TikTok's best promoter. A large portion of reels have a TikTok watermark.
quitit 4y ago
I feel like TikTok took the Vine idea to its natural extent. Meanwhile Facebook/Meta shoehorning Snap & TikTok features into Instagram ruined Instagram and wasted their lead. Many big tech companies don't perform real R&D, instead they're fast-followers - piggybacking off whatever their competitors do, but the truth is that "disruption should come from within" because letting a competitor design your next product feature is f'n foolish (we see this a lot with consumer hardware too). Imagine if Facebook/Meta actually focussed on Instagram's core strengths, and had cultivated a proper community or reason for being (e.g like YouTube or Twitch), rather than just spending all that time thinking about how they can squeeze more ad revenue: sure they might have not have had such big short-term ad sales, but Instagram would have found its feet and not have been so easily disrupted - heck, this might have led to innovative ways of advertising: two-birds-with-one-stone imagine that! (/s) I think I speak for many when I say this is a core frustration with Facebook/Meta. There is nothing exciting coming out of their company because they don't make new ideas* and that leaves themselves open to disruption. By being too focused on ad revenue their acquisitions haven't progressed since day one, instead each looks like a Frankenstein's monster of the same app but with loads of ads and competitor's features bolted on. * Even the much hyped metaverse isn't offering anything new.
- folli 4y ago
  Yeah, what happened to Vine? I haven't heard that name for quite some time.
  - mypalmike 4y ago
    Twitter just turned it off one day a few years ago. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
    - xmprt 4y ago
      It actually blows my mind how Twitter decided to kill Vine when it was very clear that they had an amazing opportunity. Vine was still very popular when they axed it especially considering how many of the popular TikTok and YouTube creators today were originally big on Vine.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
spaceman_2020 4y ago
TikTok is banned in India now, but when it was active, my feed was filled with content from daily wage labourers, farmers, and people living in small towns and villages. It was unpolished stuff but delightfully sincere and fun. Reels just feels way too urbane and polished. Just not the same vibe.
- mistermann 4y ago
  I think there's something profoundly beautiful about teenagers living in tin roof shacks on the other side of the world from kids living in million dollar houses doing the same dances/memes/etc, as if they are equal peers. Maybe there's something for us adults to learn here?
ncpa-cpl 4y ago
> My theory has been that people have been conditioned out of posting to Instagram (if you don't have a literally perfect life, then why post) and as a result Instagram just has less content to draw upon. I think this effort to chase TikTok isn't going to pan out because "regular" people aren't posting to Instagram. This is a good observation. From my IG acquaintances too, it seems that only those with instagrammable lives are the ones still posting. The guy who does scenic hikes, the girl who goes to the exciting parties, those with perfect bodies. The occasional wedding or graduation photo. Many others have stopped posting pictures completely or sporadically post photos.

biotinker 4y ago

The problem with asking "actual users" in this way, is that it fundamentally ties the user's pre-existing conception of these apps to their responses. If a user had been served the same content on Reels that they were on TikTok, it's difficult to see them having the same reaction.

thematrixturtle 4y ago
But they weren't? You can't just discount Reels having worse content.
stainforth 4y ago
An actual scientific experiment would have like recently fallen away Amish teens compare these apps having never used them.
- permo-w 4y ago
  or present them with the videos through some kind of neutral UI the UI itself can be tested separately

lern_too_spel 4y ago

Maybe TikTok trains on product data and validates on expert human rater data? This is a strategy that search engines used to use. Maybe they still do, but they used to too.

IgorPartola 4y ago

As a millennial I can tell you exactly why TikTok is better: 1. The Reels algorithm is simplistic as fuck. I was scrolling through Instagram recently and a three reel “ad” came up. I accidentally tapped on the center one and it turned out to be a pimple popping video. Now every reel I see is that. No exceptions. I am sure if I actually watched more Reels I would get better content but that’s work. 2. Reels are often poor quality. What I see is mostly life hacks that are actually really stupid or jokes that never pay off. 3. TikTok has a creator culture that seems far superior to Reels. What Facebook/Instagram seem to fail to realize is that the problem they have isn’t a lack of a video platform but rather a lack culture. TikTok somehow did foster a really cool culture of people creating content, perhaps using their stitches feature. 4. Instagram is a photo sharing platform. Imagine if every other thing you saw on TikTok was a still photo. It would be jarring. That’s the current experience with reels. 5. I don’t know if this is actually true but it feels to me that you can get a lot more exposure quickly on TikTok than with Reels. I don’t post TikTok videos but know enough people who do and it seems they are very much able to get tens of thousands of views with minimal effort and while being relatively new to the platform. I don’t think you can get those numbers with Reels. 6. TikTok nailed ads. They are obvious, easy to skip, and not jarring at all. Instagram is a mess. 7. I come to Instagram to seek specific kind of content from my friends. I get reels from total strangers. I come to TikTok to get lols from random strangers and sometimes see friends. This is very personal but this is a major reason for me to use both and to dislike Reels.

fucyfdjrgg 4y ago
I agree with all of this and I think the only thing I would add is that Tiktok understood the assignment was to be a mobile app. Everything about Tiktok is streamlined for mobile from the menus, to the time allotments, to a myriad of other design choices. Mobile is the future and, while I don't mean this to be snide towards pc enthusiasts, I find that a lot of people in my generation (millenials) and farther back just cannot comprehend how enjoyable a well designed mobile experience can be because they're stuck in old mindsets and habits. But Gen Z is growing up with phones that don't suck in their hands and the status quo of 'good enough' mobile apps is eventually going to be subverted by apps like TikTok imo that actually embrace mobile as a valid primary medium and not just as a lucrative lowest-common-denominator market.

helsinkiandrew 4y ago

> I think this effort to chase TikTok isn't going to pan out because "regular" people aren't posting to Instagram. For me that isn't the case - I follow mostly "regular" people and enjoy it, but... The problem I have with Instagram is that when I open the app I want to see the photos that people I've followed have posted since I last opened, it in time order. Yet It's quite a struggle not to see reels or suggested posts or people posting spam. 50% of the time I open IG the first post shown to me is from a hashtag I follow but its an image of an attractive young women with a very loose connection to the hashtag. By copying other successful paradigms within IG and FB, Meta are destroying what remains of the products and users they have. I occasionally use TikTok but don't want to see a weak version of it on IG

sytelus 4y ago
This is an issue that is killing FB/Insta and I am not sure why nobody in Meta seems to get this. Apps attract people with certain expectations and mindset. When I want to login to FB/Insta, I want to see posts from people I know. Unfortunately, I made a mistake to like posts from few groups and that was basically the end of my newsfeed. Now all I get is posts from the grops from random people. Eventually it becomes same-old same-old and you quit. But here's the most braindead thing FB has done: They actually have feature called "show first" which I tried to use it to force FB show posts from friends and not from groups. But some PM there probably made decision that this is not a good idea and forced to limit to only 30 people! So, now when I log in to FB, I get few posts from 30 people and then it's garbage from groups again. It is beyond me how no one can see these issue there.
AlexandrB 4y ago
Ironically by pushing Reels so hard Instagram has been TikTok's best promoter. A large portion of reels have a TikTok watermark.

quitit 4y ago

I feel like TikTok took the Vine idea to its natural extent. Meanwhile Facebook/Meta shoehorning Snap & TikTok features into Instagram ruined Instagram and wasted their lead. Many big tech companies don't perform real R&D, instead they're fast-followers - piggybacking off whatever their competitors do, but the truth is that "disruption should come from within" because letting a competitor design your next product feature is f'n foolish (we see this a lot with consumer hardware too). Imagine if Facebook/Meta actually focussed on Instagram's core strengths, and had cultivated a proper community or reason for being (e.g like YouTube or Twitch), rather than just spending all that time thinking about how they can squeeze more ad revenue: sure they might have not have had such big short-term ad sales, but Instagram would have found its feet and not have been so easily disrupted - heck, this might have led to innovative ways of advertising: two-birds-with-one-stone imagine that! (/s) I think I speak for many when I say this is a core frustration with Facebook/Meta. There is nothing exciting coming out of their company because they don't make new ideas* and that leaves themselves open to disruption. By being too focused on ad revenue their acquisitions haven't progressed since day one, instead each looks like a Frankenstein's monster of the same app but with loads of ads and competitor's features bolted on. * Even the much hyped metaverse isn't offering anything new.

folli 4y ago
Yeah, what happened to Vine? I haven't heard that name for quite some time.
- mypalmike 4y ago
  Twitter just turned it off one day a few years ago. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  - xmprt 4y ago
    It actually blows my mind how Twitter decided to kill Vine when it was very clear that they had an amazing opportunity. Vine was still very popular when they axed it especially considering how many of the popular TikTok and YouTube creators today were originally big on Vine.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

spaceman_2020 4y ago

TikTok is banned in India now, but when it was active, my feed was filled with content from daily wage labourers, farmers, and people living in small towns and villages. It was unpolished stuff but delightfully sincere and fun. Reels just feels way too urbane and polished. Just not the same vibe.

mistermann 4y ago
I think there's something profoundly beautiful about teenagers living in tin roof shacks on the other side of the world from kids living in million dollar houses doing the same dances/memes/etc, as if they are equal peers. Maybe there's something for us adults to learn here?

ncpa-cpl 4y ago

> My theory has been that people have been conditioned out of posting to Instagram (if you don't have a literally perfect life, then why post) and as a result Instagram just has less content to draw upon. I think this effort to chase TikTok isn't going to pan out because "regular" people aren't posting to Instagram. This is a good observation. From my IG acquaintances too, it seems that only those with instagrammable lives are the ones still posting. The guy who does scenic hikes, the girl who goes to the exciting parties, those with perfect bodies. The occasional wedding or graduation photo. Many others have stopped posting pictures completely or sporadically post photos.