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If you travel for work, you know to pack two

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you know business. From

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Wondery, I'm David Brown and this is Business

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Wars Daily on this April 15th. Happy Monday

0:47

everybody. When it comes to

0:49

major social media apps, apparently imitation is

0:51

the greatest form of flattery. Since TikTok

0:53

first came on the scene in the

0:55

form that we know it in 2018,

0:58

other apps have been scrambling to compete

1:00

with the app that 50 million daily

1:02

users just can't go without. Meta's

1:05

Instagram has certainly been trying. See,

1:08

being the king of photo sharing apps just wasn't

1:10

good enough for Instagram, which launched its Reels

1:12

feature in 2020. You know

1:15

Reels are those short vertical videos. Sound

1:17

familiar? That many TikTok fans joke

1:19

is just like TikTok, but about a month

1:21

behind in trends. But while Instagram

1:23

appears to be playing catch up when it

1:25

comes to TikTok, we now

1:27

know that TikTok may be trying

1:30

to take after Instagram after all.

1:32

TikTok's latest feature, which is still in development,

1:35

is a wait for it. Place

1:37

to share captioned photos. Like

1:39

I said, imitation, flattery, you see where this

1:42

is going, right? Currently, photos

1:44

are able to be uploaded into

1:46

TikTok, complete with background music. But

1:49

some users have reported that when they upload

1:51

photos, a notification has been popping up. It

1:54

informs them that the photos will also

1:56

be posting in a coming soon app

1:58

called TikTok Notes. Notes,

2:00

it appears, is the name of

2:02

this new Instagram-like feature. Okay,

2:05

let's take a step back here. Why, oh

2:07

why, when it's been so successful with video,

2:09

would TikTok lean into, you know, boring

2:12

old photo posts? Even

2:14

die-hard Instagram influencers who make money

2:17

off views, shares, and comments have

2:19

complained that Instagram's own algorithm seems

2:21

to prioritize video over still photos.

2:24

So what's the appeal for TikTok?

2:27

Well it turns out, on

2:29

TikTok, photos are in. At

2:32

least that's what TikTok executives say. The

2:34

app has been pushing brands and major

2:36

influencers to use its carousel function, which

2:39

lets creators post up to 35 images

2:41

that users can scroll through. And

2:44

yes, Instagram also has a carousel

2:46

feature launched in 2017, but

2:48

with an upper limit of only 10 photos. In

2:51

a message to creators, TikTok promised that

2:53

carousel photo posts get 2.9 times more

2:57

comments, 1.9 times more likes,

3:00

and 2.6 times more shares on

3:02

average than video posts, according to

3:04

Modern Retail. The point,

3:06

it appears, is that if they can

3:08

get brands and influencers to lean into

3:10

photo sharing, they'll have momentum when it

3:12

comes time to launch TikTok notes on

3:14

a massive scale. So

3:16

for those keeping track, Instagram started

3:19

with photos, TikTok started with videos.

3:21

Now Instagram is leaning into video,

3:23

and TikTok is leaning into photos.

3:26

If it appears they're trying to be all things to

3:28

all people, it seems. But one

3:30

thing that's hanging over TikTok's proverbial head?

3:34

That potential ban in the US? That

3:36

could be really a thorn in TikTok's side,

3:38

you might say. But you know

3:40

who'd have a day should a ban come to pass?

3:43

You guessed it. Instagram. And

3:46

it's Reels. Remember

3:48

the good old days when social media apps

3:51

had individuality? Well, it appears those

3:53

days are numbered, and it appears

3:55

our favorite apps are melting into one big

3:57

pot. Will TikTok succeed with

3:59

its plans? to become the new Instagram?

4:02

If it can do that, and avoid a ban, of

4:04

course, one might

4:06

think that its future looks picture

4:08

perfect. From

4:11

Wondery, this is Business Wars Daily. I'm your

4:13

host David Brown, written and produced by Jessica

4:16

Mormosk. Our executive producers are Tina

4:18

Rubio and Marcia Lee. Hey

4:35

Prime members, you can listen to

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Business Wars Daily ad-free on Amazon

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Music. Download the Amazon Music app

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today. Or you can listen ad-free

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with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts.

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Before you go, tell us about

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yourself by completing a short survey

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at wondery.com slash survey. If

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you travel, you know when it comes to love. See you

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soon. Can't wait, the sky is no limit.

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