After six months of Reels being launched in the U.S., Instagram is now changing their algorithm to dismiss those videos posted with the TikTok watermark. 

Users posting the videos on Reels with the TikTok watermark may not be shown. Instagram won’t be banning or hiding such videos but they won’t be getting a push to appear on the Reels feed either. Your followers will still see the video, but it most likely won’t reach a larger audience.  

The goal of this update is for Instagram to see more original posts and content of Reels instead of the recycled videos from its competitors. 

Instagram does not want Reels to look like an advertisement for TikTok or a place where creators can re-post their content they already made on another platform. This may mean that content creators will have to do more work to create different content, or either focus on just one platform and not distribute across platforms. 

The platform is issuing new tips on its @creators account to give users tips on how to make content that’s likely to be seen and promoted. 

Instagram recommends that Reels users post vertical videos that use music that is provided in Instagram’s library or sounds that they find on Reels, not from other sources. They also suggest starting a trend that others can participate in, like dances, as well as “entertaining” and “fun” content. 

They say Reels that are mostly covered by text, are blurry, have a watermark or logo, or have a border around it won’t be recommended as much.

Instagram spokesperson, Devi Narasimhan, said “We are getting better at using ranking signals that help us predict whether people will find a reel entertaining and whether we should recommend it.”

Instagram is saying users don’t like when content is recycled from other apps or is blurry. They say the recommendation software will start deemphasizing that content.

This change comes to no surprise as Instagram Reels has gained traction over the last several months and has become a popular destination on its own. If you want to reach a larger audience with your Reels, you’ll should avoid reposting your TikTok videos.

If you want to learn more about Tok Tok and how you can utilize the platform for marketing, contact the Rhinos.