Facebook Now Calls Every Video a Reel, No Matter the Length

Facebook just did something that might leave many scratching their heads. From now on, anything you watch on the platform, whether it’s a quick 30-second clip or a full-length vlog, is officially labeled a “reel.”

For years, people got used to the idea that a reel is a short video you can scroll through quickly, mostly on Instagram or TikTok. On Instagram, reels started out as bite-sized videos under a minute, then grew to allow up to three minutes. But Facebook has decided to flip the script and ditch those rules entirely.

So if you post a five-minute cooking tutorial or a one-hour travel vlog, Facebook will still call it a reel. In line with this change, the platform has renamed its “Videos” tab to simply “Reels,” aiming to unify everything under one name.

It’s a bit confusing since Instagram still keeps reels short and snappy, and both apps belong to Meta. But Facebook seems determined to make “reel” the new universal word for any video content within its app.

If you haven’t noticed the new labels yet, don’t worry,  Facebook is gradually updating everyone’s feed. Expect the complete switch to happen over the next few months. Whether people like this new naming or not, it looks like the days of separate “videos” and “reels” on Facebook are officially over.

(via Meta)