WEBVTT

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- Meta has a problem

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as it tries to make Facebook
and Instagram more like TikTok.

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They've been shoving short-form video

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in users' faces over the past few months.

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The only thing is,
nobody's really interested

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in either making them or watching them.

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Based on leaked internal documents

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from this past August seen
by the Wall Street Journal,

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the company reported,

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"Most Reel users have no
engagement whatsoever."

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The number of total hours
spent watching Reel users

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each day is under a
tenth of the total number

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of folks watching videos on TikTok.

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No (beep).

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And even if you account for the fact

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that Instagram isn't wholly
focused on short form videos,

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that lack of engagement
would still be harsh

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for a company that has banked hard

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into trying to emulate TikTok.

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Yeah, you're not the only one
wanting to shake your phone

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every recommended video that
pops up on your Instagram feed.

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There are 11 million users
creating content on Instagram,

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just 2.3 posted million each month.

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Like many other companies,

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Meta has looked to pay
influencers and content creators

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for putting up their stuff on Instagram,

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but the company has only
paid out $120 million

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of a total $1 billion to Instagrammers,

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according to the leaked documents.

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Now, the company has told
Gizmodo that all the numbers

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in those leaked documents
are inaccurate or old,

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but they weren't willing

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to offer us any real or updated numbers.

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A spokesperson instead told us,

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"Creators and businesses are
seeing promising results."

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Though even when you
look beyond the numbers,

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it's clear a good portion

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of the Instagram community
hasn't been happy

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with the push to Reels.

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A recent viral campaign asking

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to "Make Instagram
Instagram Again" blew up

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and was even shared by Kylie Jenner

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along with Kim and Kourtney Kardashian,

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you know, the folks that we can all trust.

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Right.

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And the company has listened,
at least to some extent.

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The Instagram developers said
they would be testing out ways

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to make less unwanted content
pop up in their Explore feeds.

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They will also let you mark posts

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that you're not interested in,

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which will hopefully give you
a better aligned algorithm.

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But is TikTok really what Meta should be

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so invested in copying?

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Instagram users have long been happy

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with seeing their friends, family

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and favorite influencers post
pictures of their felines

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or share their feels in the moment.

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On the other hand,

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TikTok's secret sauce is the algorithm,

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designed to show you what you want

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or what you didn't even know you wanted.

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And with U.S. midterms on the horizon,

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you can already guess
what might be in store

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for continuing polarization.

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Unfortunately, this isn't the end though.

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Mark Zuckerberg recently
said that he expects 30%

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of your feed to be recommended by AI.

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Unless the algorithm can
show me repeated images

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of walruses sleeping on boats,

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I doubt I'll ever be satisfied.

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To read more about this
story, check out gizmodo.com

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(chiming music)