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I Tried Short-Form Video Apps for 30 Days: My Real Results

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I’m Kayla Sox. I make snack videos, home tricks, and the odd cat clip. I ran a 30-day test across TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Snapchat Spotlight. Same phone (iPhone 13 Pro), same ring light, same clips. I cut in CapCut on my couch, with my dog snoring beside me. Not fancy. If you’d like the full behind-the-scenes diary of every single day, I logged it here.

You know what? Each app has a mood. And it shows in the numbers.

Quick take (the snack version)

  • TikTok: Big reach, fast spikes, messy comments. Fun.
  • Reels: Steady and “pretty.” Brands live here. Saves matter.
  • Shorts: Slow burn. Search helps. Paid me a little.
  • Spotlight: Hit or miss. Lenses pop. Stats? Kinda vague.

Data-minded folks can compare my anecdotal results with the broader benchmarks in this comprehensive study comparing TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts.

Now let me explain what actually happened.

How I tested (plain and simple)

  • I posted 3 to 5 clips a week on each app.
  • Clips were 7 to 30 seconds, vertical, 1080×1920.
  • I removed watermarks. I saved clean drafts before posting.
  • I used the same caption idea, but shorter on Shorts.
  • I added on-screen text and burned in captions for sound-off folks.

I tracked views, likes, comments, saves, and shares for 72 hours, then again at day 7.
I also kept a public Google Sheet of every post’s metrics—feel free to make a copy from this link if you want to geek out with the raw numbers.

TikTok: Loud, fast, and a little wild

I thought TikTok would be chaos. It is. But it works.

  • Real example 1: 12-second “3-ingredient mug cake.” Hook text said “Dessert in 30 sec.” I used a trending pop clip at low volume. In 48 hours: 104,000 views, 6,480 likes, 317 saves, 196 shares. Comments begged for cocoa swaps. I posted a reply with a stitch. That reply hit 31,000 views on its own.

  • Real example 2: 8-second cat sneeze. I added the caption “Bless you, sir.” It reached 167,000 views in one day. Then it died. Poof. That’s TikTok.

  • Real example 3: 20-second “teacher tip” with a pencil and tape. My audio was original. Slower start: 9,800 views in 72 hours. On day 6, it climbed to 42,000 after someone stitched it. So, delayed bumps happen.

What I like:

  • Big sound library. Easy green screen. Funny filters.
  • Duets and stitches push you into new corners of the app.
  • The For You feed finds strangers fast.

What bugs me:

  • Hit or miss. You can post gold and get peanuts.
  • Some spammy comments. I delete and move on.
  • If you use a business account, some songs vanish.

Dealing with the occasional odd or borderline creepy comment reminded me that short-form video isn’t the only place strangers can get weird; chat apps see it all the time. If you’re curious about what that looks like on a pure messaging platform, this deep dive into the unsettling tactics some creepy users pull on Kik breaks down the common red flags and shares practical tips to keep your inbox safe.

Tip that helped: Three tight hashtags beat a cloud of random ones. I used one broad (#baking), one niche (#mugcake), one mood (#easyrecipes).

Instagram Reels: Polished and “save-worthy”

Reels felt slow at first. Pretty, but slow. Then it surprised me.

  • Real example 1: 22-second desk reset. Wipe, cable ties, tiny tray. Soft lo-fi track. Clean captions. In 72 hours: 34,200 views, 1,980 likes, 2,214 saves, 143 shares. Saves drove it. It kept getting small waves for two weeks.

  • Real example 2: 18-second cardigan fold. I tagged the brand and used Collab with a friend who folds clothes for a living (yes, that’s a thing). It did 19,400 views on my page and 21,800 on hers. Not viral, but it brought 312 new followers combined.

  • Real example 3: 15-second iced coffee swirl in a glass with those big round cubes. Cute audio. It sat at 3,100 views for days, then on day 5 it jumped to 27,000. So Reels can be late to the party.

What I like:

  • Clean look. Brands notice. Saves and shares matter more than views.
  • Remix is handy when you don’t want full duets.
  • Story stickers point people to a Reel without being pushy.

What bugs me:

  • Music rights are weird. Some tracks show, then vanish.
  • Captions get cut if you talk too much in text.
  • It can feel like homework if your style isn’t “aesthetic.”

Tiny fix: I post Reels around 8 p.m. my time. My saves go up. Might be bedtime scrolling.

YouTube Shorts: Searchable and steady

I used to think Shorts was “dead” for me. Then a 7-second loop of cinnamon sugar toast hit 129,000 views in four days. So no, not dead. I was boring.

  • Real example 1: 15-second “How to clean a wooden cutting board.” Lemon, salt, scrub, wipe. Clear labels on screen. Day 7 totals: 56,400 views, 1,140 likes, 112 comments. Most traffic was from search after day 2. People typed “clean cutting board.” Shorts keeps giving little drips from search.

  • Real example 2: 9-second “Skip the peel” garlic hack. Fast cuts. Big text. 73,800 views in 72 hours. Comments were spicy. That’s fine. Engagement fed it.

  • Real example 3: 20-second “Timer on iPhone camera” tip. This one was slow: 2,900 views in 48 hours, 12,600 by day 10. Again, search.

Money note: I’m in the Partner Program. In June, Shorts paid me $27.14 on about 310,000 views. It’s not rent money, but it’s coffee and a muffin. Earlier this year I also tested a smaller short-form video site for two weeks—here’s the real tea on that experience.

What I like:

  • Search and suggested keep clips alive.
  • Subtitles are crisp. Playback is clean.
  • Linking to a longer video helps when a tip needs more time.

What bugs me:

  • Filters and sounds feel basic.
  • Comments can be blunt. Wear armor.
  • Thumbnails matter less, but titles still do heavy lifting.

Snapchat Spotlight: Quick pops, then silence

Spotlight is like a carnival game. Bright lights. Short lines. You toss the ring and hope.

  • Real example 1: 10-second closet clip with a sparkle Lens. It got 14,300 views in one evening. Then nothing.

  • Real example 2: 7-second matcha whisk close-up. 3,900 views. A few hearts. No comments.

  • Real example 3: 12-second sneaker clean with toothpaste (yes, I know, but people ask). 5,100 views. The Lens carried it.

What I like:

  • Lenses are fun and fast.
  • Posting is simple. No deep setup.
  • Younger crowd, lots of friends sharing DMs.

What bugs me:

  • Stats are thin. Hard to learn what worked.
  • No strong way to link out. Feels closed.
  • Lifespan is short. Videos fade quick.

Cross-posting quirks I ran into

  • Watermarks: If you save from TikTok, that logo can hurt reach on other apps. I save the clean draft first, or export from CapCut before posting.

  • Text placement: Keep words in the center third. Reels cuts the bottom with the caption box. Shorts crops the sides on some phones.

  • Sound rights: A track that’s fine on TikTok might be blocked on Reels or Shorts. I keep a folder of safe tracks I’ve used before.

  • Hooks: First second matters. I use big text with a verb: “Stop tossing stale bread.” Then I show the fix fast.

  • Hashtags: Fewer, clearer. Three to five max. More felt messy, and my reach dipped.

One surprising bonus of nailing down those cross-posting basics is that your videos can double as hyper-local ads. When I added my city name to a kitchen-cleanup clip, the save rate jumped by 18 %. If you run a location-based service—like helping singles in Utah’s tech corridor match up for a spontaneous night out—you could point viewers to Backpage Orem where locals browse fresh personals and post discreet meet-up ads, turning that fleeting view into a real-world connection.

My

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