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Instagram clones another TikTok feature with Remix

Instagram's remixing TikTok's Duets with a name that's very on the nose.

What you need to know

  • Instagram today launched Remix, a feature for Reels that's reminiscent of TikTok's Duet.
  • It'll allow Reels users to upload a new Reel that's reacting to an older one, essentially "remixing" it.
  • The feature will roll out today.

Instagram's Reels is gaining another TikTok feature with "Remix", a riff on TikTok's Duet feature. To recap, Duets on TikTok are a feature that allowed users to record a video of them reacting to other videos. They are a popular feature on the platform and have helped creators on there grow their platforms.

On Instagram, it'll be called Remix, and it'll work exactly the same way as TikTok's Duets work. You can record a Reel reaction which would display as a new Reel combining both videos, and then you'll be able to share it to your followers. It won't work on Reels that were uploaded prior to the update by default, so you'll need to manually enable Remixes on an older reel if you'd want people to be able to create reactions to it.

Remixes will be new Reels in themselves, so they'll appear alongside your other Reels. Your activity tab will let you know if anyone else has remixed your Reel.

Instagram redesigned its app last year to bring Reels front and center. It's not clear how many users have pivoted to creating content for Reels over TikTok yet, and many videos shared there (anecdotally speaking) are rehosted TikTok videos. Instagram likely hopes that by enabling reactions to Reels (rehosted or not), there'll be more genuine engagement, leading to more original content leading to more genuine engagement, and so on.

Instagram could be trying to make fetch happen here, but if anyone has a chance of success, it's the behemoth social network with a billion users.


by Michael Allison