The rumors were true: Today Instagram announced the addition of videos to its popular photo-sharing app. On top of being an obvious response to the growing popularity of Twitter’s Vine app, this is another confirmation that the era of video is surging.
Here’s the skinny: Users of the Instagram app can tap on the camera icon to see a video camera icon to the right of the normal camera button. Once a user taps the video camera icon, they’ll be taken to the video interface, where they can start recording videos by pressing and holding (and releasing, if they want to record in separate segments) the red button in the middle. Videos can be up to 15 seconds long, and users have a choice of 13 filters to apply to their videos, if their hearts so desire.
“When you post a video, you’ll also be able to select your favorite scene from what you’ve recorded as your cover image so your videos are beautiful even when they’re not playing,” Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom writes in a blog post.
Facebook, which owns Instagram, says a number of big brands are already using video on Instagram for marketing purposes, including GE, Burberry and Nike.
Instagram’s video feature might be generally similar to Vine, but there are several key differences. A comparison chart from TechCrunch lays out Instagram and Vine side-by-side, highlighting each platform’s creation and consumption features. Instagram’s unique qualities include filters, the ability to delete the last recorded clip, image stabilization and cover frames. Vine’s unique features include looping and embedding.
It seems that Instagram’s video experience is quicker and smoother than Vine’s. Add to this Instagram’s 130 million active users and superior engagement, and it’s easy to make the case that Instagram’s new feature may be a stake in Vine’s heart.
However, Sol Lipman, whose social video startup 12seconds (which, as its name betrays, allowed users to record and share 12-second videos) shut down in 2010, isn’t so keen on Instagram’s entrance into short-form videos. He expects Instagram users to be bothered by the interruption of their photo browsing by videos in their feeds.
Marketers who have been tinkering with Vine should be quick to try out Instagram’s video feature. Best practices for Vine should remain mostly relevant to Instagram, though cover frames and filters add new layers.
Here’s the company’s announcement:
What do you think of Instagram videos?
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