Mashable: Instagram Reels suffers from low user engagement and content recycling from other platforms.

Instagram is making every effort to evolve with the times and include as many users from rival platforms as possible. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner have used Instagram's Stories feature to demand the app "stop trying to be TikTok," sparking a backlash from Instagram's core user base and influential users.

An internal report seen by the Wall Street Journal indicates that Instagram's short-form video feature is underwhelming, and the company has some work to do before it can compete with TikTok.

Only roughly 20.7% of the 11 million creators on the platform publish on Reels every month, and "most Reels users have no involvement whatsoever," according to a study titled "Creators x Reels State of the Union 2022."

While TikTok users spend a total of 197.8 million hours per day viewing videos on the network, Instagram users spend only a fraction of that time watching Reels (17.6 million hours per day).

According to Devi Narasimhan, a representative for Meta, "this narrative exploits obsolete and, in some cases, incorrect statistics to give a deceptive image of our progress on Reels." More people are watching, creating, and interacting with Reels than ever before, and although we still have work to do, creators and companies are experiencing encouraging benefits and our revenue growth is quicker than we planned.

The survey states that a major issue is that roughly one-third of all videos are created elsewhere and then uploaded to Instagram, rather than being made just for Reels. Due to the overwhelming amount of recycled videos (which can usually be detected by watermark), the firm has said that it would henceforth demote such videos in users' feeds.

Narasimhan was straightforward, saying, "We won't promote Reels that are obviously recycled from other apps." According to the feedback we've received from our audience, "Reels that are specially created for Instagram are what people find to be the most amusing and motivating."

Major internet culture custodians reacted furiously in July when the social media company announced it would be testing a full-screen version of the app and that Facebook would be transitioning to an algorithm similar to TikTok, which would have fed users more videos from strangers than from friends.