This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. Here is a collection of past columns.
Facebook is going to make you love its short video format called Reels whether you want to or not.
The bite-size and repeating videos started on Instagram in 2020 as an outright copy of TikTok, the hottest app then and now. If you haven’t noticed Reels yet, you will soon.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said this week that it would display Reels on more places in its apps. Reels are also taking prime real estate at the top of the screen when people open the Facebook app. Maybe soon we’ll see Reels of used cars that are listed on Facebook’s version of Craigslist.
Shoving Reels into our eye holes is a little bit sad, a little bit brilliant — and worth watching as a test of Facebook’s ability to will itself into continued popularity. Leveraging success to make further success is how dominant companies win — and it has worked for Facebook before — but it’s also how dominant companies lose.
