If clicking random pictures and uploading them on Instagram is a part of your everyday life, then you must have noticed the latest update the company has come up with – a new live video broadcast as well as disappearing pictures feature. This update from Instagram is a step towards being more than just a platform for sharing curated pictures, and rather emerging as a one-stop platform for quick, fun videos as well.
What are these updates?
- Live video – In keeping with the plans of its parent company Facebook, Instagram has come up with the live video feature. However, unlike Facebook’s live video feature, one cannot go back and watch the live video stories on Instagram. Rather this streaming tool from Instagram is available to watch only while someone is recording a video from the in-app camera. Drawing inspiration from how young people spend time together, Instagram designed this live feature to provide a more intimate experience to its users by notifying just a subset of their followers who engage with their photos and video the most. In case of online harassment, there is also an option of reporting or blocking users from viewing your broadcasts.
- Ephemeral pictures and videos – Also called ‘disappearing’ messages feature, this is quite similar to the features present on Snapchat – Instagram’s rival photo and video sharing app. Using Instagram Direct, users can send disappearing photos and videos to their friends. Just like in the case of Snapchat, these videos and photos will appear in the stories bar present at the top of the app in Direct. Once viewed by your friends, the message will disappear. The ephemeral messages can be sent to individuals and groups only in the form of private messages or live in the user’s Instagram inbox. To differentiate these self-destructive messages from the rest, circular avatars appear on top of them. Even though these messages are immediately removed from the app, the content is visible until the last person has seen it. Later it is stored by Instagram for a limited time so that it can be reviewed in case there has been a reported violation.
There is no denying the fact that not only has Instagram gone the Snapchat way, but it has also made it a point that it targets Snapchat’s audience base as well. Which explains the company’s promotional video showing a group of young people using these new features. At present, Instagram has around 300 million daily users, while half as many use Snapchat each day. Moreover, it will be too early to predict if Instagram can usurp Snapchat, the ephemeral feature is sure to encourage more sharing of videos and photos – resulting in increased engagement with the users.
On its part, Snapchat has some unique features like lenses and stickers; which are not available on Instagram now. Also with its parent company venturing into hardware with the launch of Spectacles, the company is not limiting itself to this photo & video sharing platform alone.
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