Reels vs. Stories: How Are They Different?

Video content is among the sure-fire ways to capture people’s attention and stop them from scrolling. Meta has introduced multiple ways of sharing video content to your audience on Facebook and Instagram, with two of them being stories – a feature that was implemented by copying the short disappearing video format of Snapchat, and reels – the vertical scrolling video idea that was popularized by Tik Tok. This has left people wondering how is it different and which do they use?

Meta’s Reels and Stories can look similar, but they serve different functions. Stories are great for sharing quick real-time updates, while reels are the perfect medium to share your filmmaking abilities. There are subtle differences in between the two mediums.

Length

Reels typically has 15- to 60-second-long video clips. Meanwhile, each story post can be 15 seconds long, but it is designed to let you add multiple 15-second clips throughout the day.

Content format

Stories lets you post static photos and video clips and share posts from the native feed. Reels, on the other hand, has exclusively video content. If you want to share a photo collage in video form, you can opt to share it in a slide video presentation.

Audio

Reels relies on music to complete the video clip. Similar to TikTok, Reels gives you access to Instagram’s music and audio library. You can also make your own audio track and publish it for other users to repurpose in their reels.

Impressions and engagement

Users can like Reels and leave comments, whereas Stories limits your followers’ reactions, comments, and even the number of views.

Captions

Similar to posts on the native feed, you can add captions and relevant hashtags when sharing a Reel. Stories doesn’t make use of captions. You can add hashtags, but these don’t have a direct impact on increasing your stories’ reach.

Visibility

Your reels are designed to expand your interactions within the community and entertain the possibility of going viral. Reels are discoverable in the Explore tab of the platform. Stories aren’t discoverable, but they strengthen brand awareness and trust among your established audience.

Lifespan

Stories is notorious for feeding off people’s FOMO (fear of missing out). A story only lasts for 24 hours. Meanwhile, reels stay up for as long as you want. You can access Reels in a separate Reels tab on your profile.

Cross-posting

You can share Reels to the Reels tab, your native feed, and even add the reels to your Stories. Stories functions more like an archive where you can share your and other people’s posts, stories, and reels.

By optimizing its features for vertical video content, Meta proves how powerful videos are in engaging the audience, establishing partnership and collaborative potential, and driving sales. Latest statistics show that Reels earns more engagement by 22% compared to video posts shared on the native feed. The answer to the earlier question then is, they are to be used situationally depending on the objective that you as a marketer want to achieve.