Instagram Reels is finally launching in the Middle East.
Months after the feature was rolled out around the world, short-video-sharing will now be live in the region from 7pm GST on Monday. Reels first launched globally in August 2020.
The short entertaining videos are typically set to music and they have been described by many as the social media platform's attempt to rival TikTok.
Users can film and edit up to 30 seconds of multi-clip videos with audio, effects and new creative tools.
Reels can be shared to users' followers on their feeds; users with public accounts can share their videos with a wider community using the Reels Tab.
"Self-expression and versatility are part of the creative DNA of the region’s Gen Z and millennial population," says Samer Jamal, strategic partner manager at Instagram Mena.
"As one of the primary platforms for this group of creators, we have always sought to adapt our features to what they need.
"With Reels, they now have more leverage when it comes to creating and sharing short-form content. Reels provides our community with greater freedom and flexibility to innovate, experiment and elevate their content, and we cannot wait to discover a new generation of talent via the feature."
The news that Reels is being rolled out in the Middle East follows the introduction of music on Instagram Stories last week.
How to make Instagram Reels
Making a Reels post is much like the process users will be familiar with for Instagram Stories. Users can film videos directly on Reels or upload a saved video from the camera roll, which can then be edited with Reels tools, including Audio, AR Effects, Speed and Touch-Ups.
Reels editing tools include:
- Audio: Users can find specific songs in the Instagram music library or use original audio by recording a video with it. Then, when the video is shared on Reels, the new original audio will be attributed to the user. If a user uses their own original music on a public account, that can then be used by other people when they select the "Use Audio" option.
- AR Effects: Much like Stories, there are plenty of effects that can be used when filming Reels.
- Timer and Countdown: Record your videos hands-free by setting a countdown timer via Reels.
- Align: To make sure your videos are neat, you can line up objects from previous clips before recording the next to help create seamless transitions – particularly slick when used for lighting, outfit, room or setting changes.
- Speed: Users can speed up or slow down selected parts of the video or audio, for example to keep to the beat on slow-motion videos.
- Touch-Up: Users can smooth out videos via Reels.
When the video is finished, simply select or add a cover image, caption and hashtags, then publish.
In addition to sharing to the Reels tab, users can also share videos directly to the feed. A new Reels tab will be then added to the user’s profile, where all their content will live.
These can be shared with friends via Stories and direct messaging. If the account is public, non-followers can also watch.
Browsing Reels
Users will likely lose hours browsing Reels, as there will now be a dedicated space for people to discover new content with the short, entertaining video clips on their apps. You've been warned.
Origin
Dan Brown
Doubleday
Company%20profile
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Company%20Profile
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Gully Boy
Director: Zoya Akhtar
Producer: Excel Entertainment & Tiger Baby
Cast: Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Kalki Koechlin, Siddhant Chaturvedi
Rating: 4/5 stars
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Sunday's games
All times UAE:
Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace, 4pm
Manchester City v Arsenal, 6.15pm
Everton v Watford, 8.30pm
Chelsea v Manchester United, 8.30pm
Company%C2%A0profile
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.