It was a chance too good for Meta to disregard: On January 19, TikTok, one in every of its biggest social media rivals, was set to go darkish throughout america when a new national security law went into impact. Within the days and weeks earlier than the ban, as thousands and thousands of Individuals have been scrambling to discover a appropriate different to TikTok, Meta discovered methods to advertise Instagram and Fb as the reply. The tech big made a flurry of design tweaks, rolled out new options, and ran commercials that every one positioned its platforms—and particularly its video product, Reels—as direct rivals to TikTok.
Instagram has scaled back its in-app procuring initiatives in recent times, however on Friday, Meta confirmed off a brand new function that seems to be straight ripped from TikTok Shop, TikTok’s extensively profitable ecommerce platform. In a promotional video, two procuring creators working for Meta defined how influencers can now “extra prominently show” merchandise they’re advertising and marketing in Reels. As a substitute of placing an Amazon or Walmart hyperlink within the feedback, they’ll add a banner directing viewers to click on on the merchandise on the backside of their movies—similar to the way it works on TikTok Store.
A few of Meta’s different efforts have been simply as pointed. Proper earlier than TikTok stopped working for roughly 14 hours on Saturday, some individuals reported that among the many final issues they noticed on the platform have been sponsored posts for Instagram. “Unsurprisingly, as TikTok goes down tonight, Meta is flooding my FYP with advertisements for Instagram,” one individual stated in a Bluesky publish, referring to TikTok’s AI-powered For You Web page feed. “In my final hour of TikTok I noticed advertisements for instagram,” one other individual stated on Threads.
TikTok’s Advert Library, a transparency instrument that permits anybody to look what paid campaigns are working on the platform, reveals that Meta ran dozens of sponsored movies about Instagram and Reels in January that have been collectively seen by thousands and thousands of customers. However the instrument consists of information from solely a choose variety of international locations—principally in Europe—and doesn’t cowl what advertisements TikTok customers might have seen in america. Meta didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.
On Fb, various individuals reported seeing a unique promotion seem on their information feeds final week, encouraging them to hyperlink their TikTok accounts to their Fb pages. “Construct your social presence throughout apps by exhibiting your TikTok profile hyperlink and follower rely in your Fb Web page,” one model of the message learn.
Given the timing, “this feels a bit passive aggressive,” one person wrote on X together with a screenshot of the banner. “Fb is trolling customers by suggesting we add our TikTok accounts to our Fb pages,” joked one other individual.
The immediate seems to be related to a feature Meta launched final month that permits customers to show their YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram handles and follower counts on Fb. Nevertheless, the banner that folks reported seeing in current days talked about solely TikTok by identify. The function makes it simpler for creators’ followers on different platforms to seek out and comply with them on Fb.
