I know you’ve heard it, it was all over my timeline too. With Twitter acquiring Vine, Facebook Owned Instagram ‘caved in to pressure’ and now allows you to upload and share videos. Oh there was no pomp, no fanfare, just a blogpost by Kevin Systrom, Instagram’s co-founder and CEO, and it was succinct. His words, “Over the past two and a half years, Instagram has become a community where you can capture and share the world’s moments simply and beautifully. Some moments, however, need more than a static image to come to life. Until now these stories have been missing from Instagram.”
He continued to say, “Today, we’re thrilled to introduce Video on Instagram and bring you another way to share your stories. When you go to take a photo on Instagram, you’ll now see a movie camera icon. Tap it to enter video mode, where you can take up to fifteen seconds of video through the Instagram camera.”
So what should you expect? Fifteen seconds upload space, with thirteen filters in tow. Also, when you upload your video, you can select your scene as your cover image. Cool right? That way, the image acts as that arresting screen shot that stops wights right in their tracks. And yes you still own all your photos and videos, though terms and conditions apply.
Something else to note; if you’re taking videos on the go, you might find that they’re a little shaky. Instagram advises that for iPhone 4S and iPhone 5, they’ve built a Cinema feature that lets you stabilize your video after you take it. Stabilization is on by default. To turn it off, simply tap . It’s ‘twice as long’ as Twitter’s Vine, and with Instagram’s active 130 million users a day, this will be all the rage in three..two…one. Images not my own.
