Instagram and TikTok roll out new TikTok-like short-form video discovery features

Instagram and Twitch rolled out new features this week that would boost short-form video content in ways reminiscent of TikTok’s discovery algorithm.

The changes come as TikTok remains on the verge of being banned in the U.S., potentially leaving a hole in the market that other social media platforms are already vying to fill.

Instagram announced Tuesday a tweak in its discovery algorithm that would amplify smaller creators through recommendations, which show users posts and reels from accounts they do not already follow through an algorithm that tracks and predicts their interests.

Previously, accounts with bigger followings were more likely to show up in users’ recommendations due to having access to more initial reach and engagement.

But in the coming months, the platform will start recommending every reel that follows its rules to a small pool of users whom Instagram deems likely to be interested. The more those initial users engage with that reel, the more likely it is to be shown to a slightly bigger batch, and the process repeats.

“This way we can try and help small creators reach a broad audience that might be much larger than the number of people who actually follow their account,” the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, said in an Instagram reel on Wednesday.

It’s the same kind of discovery mechanism that gave TikTok its reputation for churning out overnight internet stars, as it effectively gives every creator, no matter how small, a chance to go viral.

An Instagram spokesperson confirmed Wednesday that the new discovery mechanism applies only to reels at this time.

As part of the change, according to an Instagram blog post, the platform is instituting a new rule making only original content eligible for recommendations. The announcement states that Instagram will start labeling reposted content to link back to the original creator, as well as barring content aggregators from being featured in recommendations.

Adding commentary or otherwise editing a piece of content to change it in a significant way, however, will allow the derived content to count as an “original.” Some users online immediately expressed skepticism at how Instagram will manage to police what is original and what isn’t, a challenge that Mosseri also acknowledged in a reel Tuesday.

“Now, we might not always be able to find that original piece of content. Maybe it was posted on another platform,” Mosseri said. “But as we get better at this over time, this should affect reach more and more for creators in a positive way, and for those who repost other people’s content in a negative way.”

Also on Tuesday, Twitch announced the launch of its Discovery Feed through a new tab on its mobile app that will enable users to scroll through both livestreams and clips, or short-form video content captured from streams.

All livestreams and clips will automatically be eligible for recommendation within this tab as long as they meet content guidelines, according to Twitch, and viewers can thumbs-up or thumbs-down a clip to train the algorithm to learn their personal interests.

“Since content in the Discovery Feed is sourced from clips created by streamers and their communities and not from uploaded content, viewers see personalized content that’s based on their watch history and interactions on Twitch,” a spokesperson wrote in an email. “We’ll be experimenting and improving the Discovery Feed over time, including new ways to filter and personalize the feed experience.”

The redesign brings the livestreaming giant another step closer to rivaling the scrollable short-form video and live stream discovery feed that underpins TikTok’s success.

Twitch CEO Dan Clancy had teased the Discovery Feed in March, writing in an open letter that the platform will focus this year on elevating creator growth through new “discovery and collaboration products” as well as “improved mobile experiences.”

A week ago, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill that would force TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company, Bytedance, to sell the app within nine months or face a nationwide ban, citing national security concerns. TikTok has announced that the company plans to challenge the law in court.

Efforts to ban the popular video-sharing app have persisted since 2020, under both the Trump and Biden administrations. The federal government and dozens of states have also banned the use of TikTok on government-owned devices.

But as TikTok continued to gain traction — attracting more than 1 billion monthly active users worldwide — competitors such as Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat have challenged the platform in recent years by popularizing their own short-form video feeds.

LinkedIn has hopped on the bandwagon as well. The employment-focused social network confirmed to NBC News that it is beta testing a scrollable short-form video recommendation feed in a new Video tab on its mobile app.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com