Instagram’s endless pictures of food porn, Starbucks coffee, and selfies are coming to life now that the photo-sharing service supports video, a move competing against Vine, Twitter’s developing video-sharing service.
Facebook CEO Mike Zuckerberg and Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom made the announcement on Thursday at a live press conference.
“What we’ve done is make Instagram better,” Systrom said. “This is the same Instagram we all know and love, but it moves.”
Vine, revealed in January, allows its present 13 million users to capture and share 6-second videos in a simple and clear platform. With Vine a strong success, it was expected that Instagram would join the action and deliver an enhanced video-sharing experience for its 130 million active users.
To access the new video feature, Instagram users can tap on the same camera icon they use to capture photos. The screen is virtually the same, but a video icon will appear on the right side. Selecting it will bring the user to video mode; where up to 15 seconds of video can be recorded by simply holding the record button.
Instagram didn’t disappoint with convenient features including a delete button that lets users erase a clip without having to record the video over, and an image stabilization tool called Cinema that improves shaky video. After recording, users can choose between 13 new additional filters designed specifically for video. Before sharing the video, users can choose a single frame from the recording as a cover frame that will be shown on the news feed.
Instagram’s already established community is a big advantage over Vine, boasting 16 billion photos shared and 1 billion likes everyday. With the extra features you can’t do with Vine, such as adding filters and deleting a clip, Instagram has become Vine’s biggest competitor. However, unlike Vine, Instagram’s videos do not loop, which is the selling point of Twitter’s app.
Only time will tell how the Instagram vs. Vine rivalry will unfold. Your move, Vine.
