Facebook started testing a new short video feature on its main app in India as now there is a bid to cash in on the TikTok ban in India and proposed ban in the US. This new feature shows up in the middle of the News Feed and works in the similar swipe-up manner as was popular on TikTok.
Facebook recently introduced Instagram Reels as its answer to TikTok’s popularity, and now it looks to introduce the same feature into Facebook as well.
We aren’t sure about the scope of testing for this feature, but we were able to spot it on the latest version of Facebook on an Android device.
Social media guru Matt Navarra first tweeted that the social media giant is testing this new ‘Short Videos’ feature inside the Facebook app. This feature is very similar to TikTok’s style of video format including the swipe-up scroll for next video. We were able to spot this feature in our Facebook app as well and it seems to be available for Indian users largely. However, it may not be available for all users in India and Facebook may just be testing it with a subset of users before rolling it out commercially.
When asked for a comment, a Facebook spokesperson said via email: “We’re always testing new creative tools so we can learn about how people want to express themselves. Short form videos are extremely popular and we are looking at new ways to provide this experience for people to connect, create and share on Facebook.”
