Thursday, June 20, 2013

Instagram Launches Video

The white arrow at the top right indicates playable content.
As you might have heard, Instagram launched a new video feature on their social photo-sharing platform. It's in direct competition with Vine, though it does have a few differences. Already, the internet at large is debating on whether or not adding video to the platform is a good idea - it will definitely change the user experience, but it's still too early to tell if people will leave Instagram over the addition of video.

Here at the office, we've definitely noticed a slowdown in the application's speed, but this may be something that Instagram addresses in the near future to create a more seamless video experience.

Does this mean Vine will feature photos in the future and the two apps will completely go toe-to-toe in a death match to win the millions of users at stake? Maybe. In the meantime, let's explore the differences.


Vine:
  • 7 seconds of video max
  • plays on infinite loop automatically
  • can use previously recorded video
  • allows social sharing and auto-creates an embedding code
  • touch the screen to record, release to stop

Instagram Video:
  • 15 seconds of video max
  • does not loop
  • cannot use previously recorded video
  • allows social sharing and allows you to copy share link, but does not currently provide an embed code
  • touch the red button to record, release to stop

We've already started taking a couple of Instavideos here at TGR to experiment with this new option. What videos are you planning to release on your Instagram?