Facebook Reels. Image: Meta
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that since its US launch last year, Reels had become Facebook’s ‘fastest growing content format by far’.
Facebook Reels is coming to all global users of the social media platform, having been initially made available only to US users last September.
Reels is Facebook’s answer to TikTok’s popular video format. It allows creators to record short video clips hands-free.
The global launch of the short-form video tool was announced today (22 February) by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook parent company Meta.
According to Zuckerberg, Reels has become the platform’s “fastest growing content format by far”, and Meta will now make it available to everyone using Facebook globally.
The social media mogul added that the company will also be launching new monetisation tools for Facebook Reels to make it “the best place for creators to connect with their community and make a living”.
The new tools include Remix, which gives creators the ability to make a Reel from an existing story. The company is also building video clipping tools which allow content creators who publish live or long-form recorded videos to test different formats.
Reels first launched on Instagram, another platform owned by Meta, in 2020. With this latest update, Instagram Reels can also be shared as recommended content on Facebook.
Facebook users will soon be able to share their public Reels to their Facebook Stories. They will also have Reels by users they don’t already follow suggested to them in their Feed.
As well as creative tools, new monetisation tools for Facebook Reels are currently being tested by the company. These include overlay ads such as banner and sticker ads, which will mean more creators can earn ad revenue.
Tests of overlay ads on Reels are being expanded to all creators in the US, Canada and Mexico with more countries to be added in the coming weeks. Full-screen and immersive ads will also play between Reels soon, according to the tech company.
Meta will be testing Facebook Stars in the coming months also. The Stars tool is aimed at creators and influencers who want to earn through engagement with their audiences on the platform.
Last year, Meta said it would spend $1bn rewarding creators who make content for its social media platforms. This includes both rewards for hitting specific engagement targets and seed money for new content initiatives.
Advertisers will soon be able to avail of brand suitability controls, including publisher lists, blocklists, inventory filters and delivery reports for banner and sticker ads for Facebook Reels in every region they are available. This will give advertisers more control over where their ads appear in Reels.
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