• by Colin Kirkland , 8 hours ago

In an effort to further streamline the video creation and sharing process, Meta said on Tuesday that it will rename the Facebook “Video Tab” the “Reels Tab.”

With the change, all Facebook videos will soon be shared as Reels, regardless of their length or formatting.

“In the coming months, all videos on Facebook will be shared as reels, eliminating the need to choose between uploading a video or reel,” the company states, adding that the algorithm will not be affected and that recommended videos will still be personalized based on users’ interests. 

By translating all video posts to the same format, Meta will be introducing a “simplified publishing flow” on Facebook, with additional creative tools and audience settings. 

With the change -- which comes a year after Facebook implemented its fullscreen video player (the “Video Tab”) -- creators will be asked to confirm their previous audience settings, or choose new parameters if their Feed posts and Reels currently have different settings. 

Notably, Reels will no longer be bound by the current 90-second cutoff, and can be as long as creators want. Therefore, longer videos will appear alongside shorter ones, with horizontal video posts being automatically converted to a vertical format. 

This will likely alter brands’ video strategies on Facebook with regard to short-form, long-form and Live posts.

Meta’s ongoing investment in a video-heavy experience is driven by the growing popularity of TikTok and YouTube, and is similar to X’s continued effort to increase video offerings on its platform. 

With TikTok still facing a potential ban in the U.S., Facebook may also be attempting to provide younger consumers -- many of whom use Facebook's Marketplace feature -- with a new hub for video consumption.

Meta says that it will gradually roll out these changes globally to profiles and Pages over the coming months.