Instagram's battle with TikTok has entered the video editing realm.
In January, the Meta-owned platform announced it would launch "Edits," a separate app for editing videos, this year. It's a clear move to compete with TikTok parent ByteDance's own editing app, CapCut, which could also stop operating in the US due to a divest-or-ban law.
This week, Instagram began adding a label to some videos with a "Made with Edits" tag on posts. When you click on the tag, it prompts you to pre-download the Edits app, which is slated to launch on March 31. On TikTok, videos edited in CapCut using templates have a similar tag directing users to CapCut.
If a video is edited in the Edits app and someone posts the video to Instagram from Edits, the tag will appear.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Adam Mosseri, Instagram's top executive, posted reels with this tag this week. The "Made with Edits" label will soon appear on more videos as Instagram onboards creators who have been given early access to test the app. One talent manager told BI that one of their creator clients already had access.
Reels made in Edits will also be optimized for higher-resolution video — up to 2K resolution. (Last month, some users spotted this language in the Instagram app when posting reels: "Reels made with Edits are optimized for high-quality playback on Instagram.")
You may be asking: Will this affect how reels perform or are ranked on Instagram?
As of now, Instagram is not giving preferential ranking to reels with the "Made with Edits" tag, the company confirmed to BI.
