Facebook has launched its second TikTok clone, Reels, in over 50 countries through an integration with Instagram, the same method it used in 2016 to try to dethrone Snapchat.

Facebook’s systematic copycat strategy, which the markets have greeted with a 6% share price increase, is among the tactics the U.S. Congress’ antitrust subcommittee documented last week as potentially harmful to competition. Facebook tried four times to clone Snapchat, finally using Instagram as an umbrella and achieving its goal. This time, after failing with Lasso, it’s opted for direct integration with Instagram, a strategy that that has worked so well in the past.

This is precisely what antitrust legislation is supposed to prevent: competitors so powerful and with unlimited resources, that when faced with any initiative that could be considered as competition, they simply buy it or copy. With TikTok being fought on multiple fronts, competitors were bound to try to fill the gap with clones, but Facebook’s strategy is simply based on replicating a rival’s very successful product, and from a position of clear and undoubted leadership. If that’s not a case of predatory competition, then nothing is. 

Beyond the possible consequences of applying antitrust legislation to its activities, Facebook risks turning Instagram into a ragbag that is increasingly hard for users to navigate. What started out as a great app to improve your photos and publish them in a few clicks, now requires users to understand how to post photos and videos, convert them into a Story that is displayed for 24 hours and then disappears or moves into the background, link them to make a longer video, or now, make a Reel, which in turn has several additional possibilities lifted directly from TikTok. This complexity is likely to discourage people who are simply not comfortable with so many options.

There are limits to these kinds of umbrella strategies of bundling features into a successful product and Facebook could have reached them with Instagram. Next time you try to upload a simple photo and find that the app now offers you several more alternatives, some longer, some shorter, some ephemeral, some permanent and some a combination thereof: don’t worry, you haven’t suddenly turned into a technophobe. It’s what happens when an app that was originally simple and well-thought out becomes an umbrella used to cover all kinds of tools copied from others. It’s a strategy that may have worked in the past, but that has surely passed its sell-by date.

Source: Forbes
 

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A report in AFP states that American billionaires continue to make money while the Covid-19 pandemic destroys tens of millions of jobs in the United States, according to data compiled by two think tanks.

Between March 18 and May 19, the 600 ultra-wealthy Americans saw their fortunes increase by $ 434 billion, an increase of almost 15% in two months, according to these data published by Forbes magazine Thursday.

Containment measures, the closure of restaurants, and shops have boosted online shopping and the need to stay connected via social media.

This has pushed up the value of Amazon, Facebook, and high-tech companies in general.

Between March and May, the fortune of Jeff Bezos (Amazon) increased by more than 30%, and that of Mark Zuckerberg, boss of Facebook, by more than 46%, according to this report by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies Program for Inequality, which compiled data from Forbes.

Since March 16, the beginning of the first containment measures in the United States, the value of the Facebook title has jumped by almost 60%, that of Amazon has increased by 45%, that of Netflix by 46%, that of Apple. 31%.

And that does not seem to stop since the titles Amazon and Facebook reached this week their highest historic level.

Conversely, billionaires in the travel, hotel or retail sector saw their fortunes melt during this same period, these sectors being directly affected by the drastic measures to stem the coronavirus.

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The new Instagram feature will let users record and edit 15-second videos with audio, and will let users add visual effects. Users will be able to share Reels with followers in Instagram in a dedicated section called Reels in Explore, or in the Story feature where posts disappear after 24 hours.

The Reels option will be available in the Instagram app. The company has been testing Reels in Brazil since November and in France, Germany and India since earlier this summer.

Facebook has a long tradition of cloning competitive services. The Instagram “Story” feature, which lets people share photos and videos that expire in 24 hours, is similar to Snapchat. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced tough questioning about the company’s habit of copying rivals before a congressional hearing on July 29.

Facebook earlier launched a TikTok knockoff called Lasso in 2018, but closed that down in July. It also tried services similar to Snapchat called Slingshot and Poke before Instagram Stories caught on. But those were separate apps — it might have more success with a feature built into Instagram.

Reels is debuting in over 50 countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Japan, Australia and others, as well as officially launching in the test countries — Brazil, France, Germany and India.