Google testing feature to display short videos from Instagram, TikTok

In a bid to retain users on its platform, Google is testing a new feature where Instagram and TikTok videos will appear in their own dedicated carousel in the Google app for mobile devices, the media reported on Wednesday. According to a report in TechCrunch, Google has been indexing video content for years.

"It's not clear to what extent it has any formal relationship with Facebook/Instagram or TikTok, however", the report said. According to Google, the feature was currently being piloted on mobile devices.

"The feature is currently available in a limited way on the Google app for mobile devices and on the mobile web," the company informed. The new dedicated carousel for Instagram and TikTok videos expands on a test launched earlier this year.

In that test, the company introduced a carousel of "Short Videos" within Google Discover (previously known as Google Feed) — a personalised content feed that proactively serves relevant content to users.

The "Short Videos" carousel focuses on aggregating videos from other platforms, including Google's own short-form video project Tangi, Indian TikTok rival Trell and YouTube.

"The expansion to include Instagram and TikTok content in this carousel was first reported by Search Engine Roundtable," the report mentioned.

"Short videos" is distinctly different from the "Web Stories" feature in Google Discover page, which functions very similarly to Instagram Stories and Snapchat. The Stories carousel helps people find some of the best visual content from around the web. In the future, the company intends to expand Web Stories to more countries and Google products.