April Fools' Day brings out the sass in the tech industry, and this year, Snapchat decided to aim its crosshairs squarely at one of its biggest rivals. In a cheeky nod to Instagram's infamous habit of borrowing features, Snap announced a temporary rebranding of its Spotlight video feed to "Reals."
The prank was unveiled in a playful video featuring Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel. During the announcement, Spiegel took a thinly veiled swipe at the Meta-owned platform's highly curated aesthetic, describing the newly minted "Reals" feed as an authentic space designed for "real people."
While Snapchat's Spotlight feed was originally launched to compete with the meteoric rise of TikTok's short-form vertical videos, the "Reals" moniker is an unmistakable parody of Instagram's "Reels." The joke strikes a deeper chord for long-time social media users, given that Instagram famously stunted Snapchat's early growth by cloning its core ephemeral "Stories" format back in 2016.
By leaning into the industry's ongoing copycat narrative, Snap is utilizing the annual day of pranks to remind the internet who the original innovator of several staple social media formats really is—all while having a little harmless fun at Meta's expense.