In an attempt to catch up with TikTok, Meta announced a series of upgrades for Facebook Reels on Friday. Most notably, Reels are now 1.5x as long, as Facebook will now allow creators to post videos up to 90 seconds long. Previously, the limit for Facebook Reels was only 60 seconds — significantly shorter than TikTok’s enormous 10-minute limit.
New features coming to Facebook Reels
Beyond longer videos, Meta also added new features to Reels that users can take advantage of starting today. If you would rather survey old photos and videos for content than create something new, you’re in luck. You can now share your Memories as reels with a single tap. You should start seeing the option below your Memories on Facebook.
Another new feature is called Grooves, and as the name suggests, it allows you to automatically align and sync the motion in your video to the beat of a song.
Facebook Reels also now has templates, so you can make your videos look like everyone else’s with as little effort as possible. Jokes aside, not everyone has the time or patience to become a professional Reels creator, so templates are a welcome addition.
All of these features were available on Instagram Reels months ago, but it looks like most features will eventually make their way over to Facebook Reels. If Meta is going to compete with TikTok, it needs to leverage all of its platforms.
“Watching video is half of time spent on Facebook and Instagram, and Reels is our fastest growing content format by far,” Meta said in a blog post last February, a few months after launching Facebook Reels. “We’re focused on making Reels the best way for creators to get discovered, connect with their audience and earn money. We also want to make it fun and easy for people to find and share relevant and entertaining content.”
