Facebook Reels Surface in Over 20 Sub-Saharan African Countries
Today, Meta, a tech and social media touchstone based in the United States, announced the expansion of the availability of its Facebook Reels for iOS and Android to more than 20 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The “Reels” feature debuted on Meta’s Instagram platform in 2020 in response to the rising popularity of then-newcomer TikTok. Reels were such a smashing success that Meta added the feature to its Facebook platform last year.
Along with this new feature expansion, Meta says it will introduce “better ways” to help creators earn money, new creation tools, and more places to watch and create Facebook Reels.
Reels are now available in Sub-Saharan Africa
Reels was previously only available on Facebook in India, Mexico, Canada, and the United States. With today’s launch, the feature is now available in 20 Sub-Saharan African countries, including Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Tanzania, Swaziland, South Africa, Seychelles, Senegal, Rwanda, Nigeria, Namibia, Mali, Malawi, Lesotho, Kenya, Guinea, Ghana, Cape Verde, Cameroon, and Burkina Faso.
Observations on the launch “We’ve seen that video now accounts for almost all of the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram, and Reels is our fastest-growing content format by far,” says Nunu Ntshingila, Meta’s Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa. This is why we’re working hard to make Reels the best platform for creators to get discovered, connect with their audience, and earn money. We also want to make it enjoyable and simple for people to find and share interesting and entertaining content.”
Opportunities for Creators are now available on Meta Social Media
Meta is also developing a number of ways for creators to earn money for their reels.
The Reels Play bonus program, which is part of Meta’s $1 billion creator investment, pays eligible creators up to $35,000 per month based on how many times their qualifying reels are viewed. According to the company, the bonus program will be expanded to more countries in the coming months, allowing more creators to be rewarded for creating reels that their communities enjoy.
As part of this latest release, Meta is also introducing new brand suitability controls, such as Publisher Lists, Blocklists, Inventory Filters, and Delivery Reports for Banner and Sticker Ads in Facebook Reels in every region where they are available, giving advertisers more control over how their ads appear in places they do not consider appropriate for their brand or campaign.
Furthermore, Meta has been testing full-screen and immersive ads in between Facebook Reels since October of last year, and will expand them to more locations around the world in the coming months. According to Meta, “people can comment, like, view, save, share, and skip them just like they can with organic content on Facebook.”
More Editing Options
In addition to the features announced last year, creators worldwide will have access to:
- Remix: Create your own reel alongside an existing, publicly-shared reel on Facebook. When you create a Remix, you can create a reel that includes all or part of another creator’s reel.
- 60-second Reels: Make reels up to 60 seconds long.
- Drafts: You will soon be able to create a reel and choose to “Save As Draft” below the Save button.
- Video Clipping: In the coming months, we’re planning to roll out video clipping tools that will make it easier for creators who publish live or long-form, recorded videos to test different formats.
Create and Discover Reels in New Places
Over the coming weeks, Meta says, the following updates will be rolled out to make it easier to create and discover reels in new places:
- Reels in Stories: You can share public reels to Stories on Facebook, making it easy to share favourite reels with friends and giving creators more visibility and reach. You’ll also be able to create reels from existing public stories.
- Reels in Watch: You’ll be able to watch reels directly within the Watch tab and we’re developing tools to help you create reels in the Watch tab as well.
- Top of Feed: We’re adding a new Reels label at the top of Feed so you’ll be able to easily create and watch reels in just a few clicks.
- Suggested Reels in Feed: In select countries, we’re starting to suggest reels that you may like in your Feed from people you do not already follow.
Meta is also looking into ways to make it easier for creators to share Reels with their Facebook and Instagram audiences, such as through cross-posting.
Facebook Reels can be found in the Feed, Groups, and Watch sections. When viewing a reel, you can directly follow the creator from the video, like and comment on it, or share it with friends.
