Although Facebook and Instagram are working hard to replicate TikTok within their own apps as Reels, a new TikTok feature that is currently rolling out will increase the visibility of the short-form video app’s content across Meta’s social networking sites. TikTok revealed to TechCrunch that it is launching a new sharing option that would enable users to publish their TikTok Stories to competing social networks, including both Facebook and Instagram. This feature has been in beta testing since last year.
According to the firm, TikTok users have only recently started receiving the functionality, so it’s possible that you haven’t yet noticed it in your own app.
As Meta has been striving to derank re-posted TikTok videos in Reels, the move may boost the exposure of TikTok content on its platforms. In particular, Meta informed its creators that original content would be given priority on Reels on Instagram and Facebook and that its algorithms would be on the lookout for watermarks, such as the ones TikTok uses on its films, for example.
Reposting TikTok Stories, on the other hand, may open up new opportunities for TikTok producers to share their work with fans on other social media platforms without having to go out against Reels.
The upgrade adds a new sharing interface for TikTok Stories, which was initially seen in changes found by product intelligence company Watchful.ai. Before, users could tap their friends’ profile pictures in the share sheet that appears when you select the three dots menu on a TikTok Story to immediately share their stories with them. Users can adjust the privacy settings, delete the videos, or save them to their smartphone using the same interface.
According to photos given by Watchful.ai and confirmed by TikTok, this sharing option will now feature a list of well-known social media platforms as well as a button to copy a URL to the video.
Quick-tap options for sharing to Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, and Instagram Stories are available in the new row (as opposed to the Instagram Feed). To be clear, cross-posting to Facebook Reels and Instagram Reels is not included in this. Once more, sharing TikTok Stories, not TikTok videos, is the focus of this. Similar to other social media networks, stories can include both videos and still photographs. In other words, there isn’t a backdoor method to distribute TikToks to Facebook or Instagram surfaces other than Reels unless TikTok producers are already cross-posting their TikTok movies to their TikTok Stories.
Reels wouldn’t work well with TikTok Stories anyhow because those tend to be more informal or personal postings or Q&As with followers (like “Ask Me Anything”), which are also common on Instagram Stories. The new capability, however, might make it easier for a creative who mainly publishes on TikTok to connect with fans who frequently use other well-known social networking applications.
When the feature would go live to all of TikTok’s users worldwide is unknown. TikTok Stories itself is currently undergoing global testing, it should be noted. Given that the product has not yet been completely released, features like this new sharing option may or may not be made available to all users of the app, or they may alter by the time the product is made available to the general public.
