Meta on Wednesday previewed upcoming additions to the video editing app Edits at an invite-only creator event in Los Angeles, showing off features like a new AI assistant and a desktop version of the previous mobile-only app.
The company also announced that other new tools are coming to the app today, including a “Beta” tab for experiments and expanded audience information.
Edits first arrived last year as a direct competitor to ByteDance’s CapCut. By adding new and upcoming tools, Meta seeks to retain and attract new users.
The upcoming AI assistant will help creators analyze their knowledge and develop ideas for their content. Assistant will use Instagram data, such as views and video retention information, to help them see what’s working and why. It will suggest video ideas based on performance and recommend creating content with a modern sound.
By integrating an AI assistant right into Edits, Meta aims to keep creators engaged on Instagram as it continues to compete with TikTok and YouTube for creators’ attention. Additionally, by offering creators content ideas, Meta encourages more frequent posting, which could, in turn, boost user engagement. Instant access to an AI assistant also frees creators from having to turn to external tools like ChatGPT when brainstorming content and understanding performance.
Meta introduced a similar AI helper for Facebook creators last week. It’s worth noting that YouTube and TikTok also offer tools to creators to help them develop ideas. For example, YouTube Studio has an Inspiration tab that uses AI to help creators generate video ideas, while TikTok offers creators an AI assistant which can capture ideas and reveal trends.
The desktop version of Edits will give creators more precise control over the editing process as well as the ability to work on a larger screen, which can be useful during more advanced editing workflows. The company says creators will be able to sync their workflows seamlessly between mobile and desktop devices.
The upcoming desktop version will also allow Edits to better compete with CapCut, which already offers a desktop version.
Among the new features rolling out today is a Beta tab, which will give creators early access to experimental features still in development and allow them to provide feedback in the Meta. The Beta Tab release indicates that Meta wants to better compete with CapCut and accelerate feature development based on what creators really want and will use.
Creators will also now be able to see more detailed metrics, such as the demographic breakdown of their audience and the time of day their audience is most engaged. The new metrics join the app’s existing analytics, which include data like how long viewers watch a video, how many followers a particular video gained, where users stop watching a particular video, and more.
In addition, creators can search for specific topics in the app’s inspiration stream to discover wheels and patterns that other creators are creating around a given trend or idea. They will also be able to create multiple versions of a single piece of content to test what performs best before publishing.
While Instagram didn’t share specific numbers on how many users Edits has, the company says content created with the app has a 10% higher save rate and 2% higher repost rate compared to content not made in Edits, and that more than half of people who follow reels on Instagram see content created by Edits every day.
Edits is free to download iOS and Android.
The AI assistant announced today is in testing with attendees at Thursday’s creator event, while the desktop version of Edits is “coming soon,” Meta says. The rest of the features are rolling out to everyone today.
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