Newest Instagram Offer: 15-second Video Feature

Facebook-owned Instagram will launch a 15-second video feature that both iOS and Android users can enjoy. On Thursday, the newest Instagram offer will be launched and start competing with the Vine app owned by Twitter. Now, the updated version of Instagram has 15 seconds of video with 13 special filters.

Moving selfies, cats, plates of food and coffee cups

There are about 130 million users of Instagram today. Kevin Systrom, founder of Instagram assured long-time users that have been part of the Instagram community for more than two and a half years that the app is still pretty much the same tool that “we all know and love but it moves.” There are moments that “need more than a static image to come to life,” he added.

The announcement was made at Menlo Park, California where Facebook’s headquarters are located. Facebook acquired Instagram in April 2012 and it cost Mark Zuckerberg’s company a whooping $1 billion.

15-second captures

Systrom said in an interview with “Nightline” host Bill Weir that Instagram is all about capturing and sharing moments, and not only about photography. Still, there are a lot of moments that single images cannot fully capture. However, a video less than a minute long is quite enough to capture these landmark moments and milestones. The video clips may then be shared via Facebook and other popular social media platforms.

Video-sharing and editing features

Users can readily record 15-second clips with one tap on the Instagram video icon. This highly-anticipated feature has 13 video filters in all that may be used to process video files. The filters are especially created for Instagram. The filters for the video are made available to keep up the stylized look that Instagram posts are known for. Video contrast is adjustable and the clip can appear in the user’s chosen hues. The clips may also be rendered in black and white.

Instagram 4.0.0

The latest version of Instagram is essentially unchanged except for the addition of the video camera icon on the capture screen. This new icon is located to the right of the already familiar image-capture button. Instagram’s video function also offers video recording in installment similar to Vine, but it does not yet have the “loop feature.”

Vine, the Twitter-owned competition offers a six-second looping video function. It was launched in January of this year and was first available on iPhones. In just six months, the app has become very popular and currently has around 13 million users. The Android version of Vine was launched very recently.

What’s there to look forward to?

Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom wrote in a blogpost that accompanied the announcement that they are excited to see what the global community of Instagrammers would come up with. He said that video posts might very well include latte making by a local café, a walking city tour, mothers and toddlers enjoying a precious moment and behind the scenes posts from favorite athletes. These are just a handful of potential video shoot subjects that can be dressed up in any of the available filters offered by the app.

Photo Credits: Instagram Announcement