Anyone in love with bite-sized videos knows about TikTok, and its infamy, with the ByteDance-owned app is filled with all genres from Gen Z and Millennial creators. Despite its wide appeal, the app has come under scrutiny from the Trump administration for national security concerns as the app houses user data in China. This has led to threats of TikTok becoming banned in the U.S., which in turn has lead to Oracle's (ORCL  ) pending acquisition of part of the app's global business. In the meantime, other platforms have rushed to compete with the social media phenomenon, especially with its future in the U.S. still hanging in the balance.

Instagram (FB  ) Reels were first out the gate and have already launched. While they offer many of the same editing options as TikTok, they are only 15 seconds long, but multiple reels can be recorded back to back. Similar to TikTok, they have a progression bar across the top and the ability to stop recording and restart, which is what made transitions so popular on TikTok. Instagram has also created a separate tab for reels to be viewed, apart from regular photos. Of course, Reels can also be shared to a user's story, only to vanish 24 hours later, per usual.

YouTube's (GOOG  ) Shorts haven't progressed nearly as quickly as Instagram. While reports of a short-form video creation option for YouTube had surfaces months ago, the company has only just released a beta version of YouTube Shorts thats only available in India at the moment. Like TikTok and Reels, YouTube Shorts do have in-product music to lay over user's videos, but it seems like the audio library seems to vary from app to app. YouTube plans to prominently feature the "create" icon for shorts and seem optimistic about its future. According to CEO Susan Wojcicki in a statement to NBC News, when YoutTube released their stories section, it did very well among creators. Luckily, YouTube already has an edge against Instagram. While their beta version has started small, users are already taking to it better than Reels. Instagram was first a photo media site, and that made users slow to pick up Reels. Meanwhile, YouTube has always been video-first. It seems like this kind of user base could be YouTube Shorts saving grace.