Instagram To Have THIS TikTok Feature To Keep Users Hooked; Is Facebook Once Again Aping Competitors?

After Reels, Facebook-owned Instagram is set to bring another popular feature from TikTok.

(Photo by GETTY/ Alvin Chan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

New Delhi: Instagram will bring a new feature on users' feed to keep them on the app for longer.  According to reports, Facebook-owned Instagram will bring suggested videos at the end of the users' feed. Currently, when a user has seen all new posts by the people they follow they see a 'You’re all caught up!' text. However, soon that will be replaced by suggested videos. Interestingly, the 'You’re all caught up!' text is said to have been brought as a move to be socially responsible in helping people limit their screentime. But looks like the priorities have changed and how. The new space for suggested videos not only helps the platform increase user time but will also serve as an additional venue for advertising.

Rivaling TikTok

The feature being brought by Facebook directly reminds of the autoplay mode on TikTok, perhaps its biggest rival currently. The autoplay on TikTok was also heavily criticised for being too addictive as people keep on consuming more and more passively without knowing when to stop. That feature increases watch-time while users get to passively find more and more creators on the platform, being a benefit to the latter. Just recently, Facebook had joined the race to replace Instagram by bringing its 'Reels' feature to India which directly takes on TikTok's short video format. So, look like the platform will continue to bring more to have people hooked.

How Facebook Seeks 'Inspiration' From Competitors

Facebook in the past has been keeping an eye on its competitors and makes it a point to bring their most notable/popular feature on its own platform. Back when Instagram brought the 24-hour post format called 'Stories' on its platform it was heavily criticised for aping the viral feature from Snapchat, wherein it not only brought the format but had similar stickers and effects for photos and videos. The feature now also appears on WhatsApp as 'Status' and Facebook's own platform with its Messenger app. In other features, Facebook's Marketplace is said to be like 'Craigslist' - a US-based classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted,  gigs, services and more. Facebook's standalone gaming app aims to take on Twitch, a platform owned by Amazon. While recently, it brought Messenger Rooms as a move to compete with the popularity of video conferencing apps like Zoom that have become popular because of the restrictions posed by the Coronavirus pandemic. Earlier, emails from April 2012 that were released as part of a US House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee probe, revealed that Zuckerberg had asked executives what could the social network do to stay ahead of others. The long discussion in the email chain had concluded over the benefits of copying others instead of spending a lot of time on building new social use cases themselves. WATCH | Cong writes to Mark Zuckerberg seeking inquiry into FB operations in India