Meta is adding a slew of new tools to Rails as it tries to keep up with TikTok. Updates include new editing features and longer uploads. The changes come as Meta has made competing with TikTok one of its top priorities.
Mark Zuckerberg said that attracting younger users, who are increasingly spending their time on TikTok, rather than Meta-owned apps, is a priority for the company.
In keeping with this theme, Rails on Instagram gets many of the features that have always been popular with the Stories feature, including surveys, emojis, and quiz stickers, which have helped boost engagement with the Stories feature over the years.
The app also adds new editing tools that will give creators more flexibility in the types of videos they can create in the Instagram app. Notably, creators will be able to import their own audio, so they can add sounds from the videos in Camera Roll to their Rails.
Instagram is also adding templates, to make it easier to identify videos of other creators. Finally, the app extends the maximum length of Rails to 90 seconds.
Meta is updating Rails on Facebook as well, with the company adding separate editing tools for the desktop, including video cropping features so creators can easily grab and turn parts of live videos and longer videos into clips.
Facebook is also getting new scheduling and audio tools to post and edit clips more easily from the desktop.
Finally, Facebook will start pushing more suggested Rails to users' feeds. Rails will appear more often on Facebook, similar to the way Rails has slowly taken over the Instagram feed in recent months. The company will also urge Instagram creators to start posting Rails on Facebook, InGadget website reported.