Monday, June 24, 2013

Instagram Raises the Bar for Video-Sharing

Posted By on Mon, Jun 24, 2013 at 5:15 PM

Mobile video-sharing app Vine, a Twitter subsidiary featuring six-second looping videos, quickly rose to the top of social media after debuting in January.

Although it was only available to iPhone users at the time, the app played a major role in not only social interactions, but in mainstream media as well. Take for example, the Boston Marathon Bombings.

At first, I thought Vine was just another way for users to document themselves doing stupid things, or washed-out celebrities to try to make a comeback. (Anyone remember Andy Milonakis? He currently has 437,081 Twitter followers, and posts videos on Vine almost daily.)

But rather quickly, Vine had became a staple of the iPhone. Almost everyone with an iPhone was using the new app, posting videos of their vacations, shenanigans and everything in between.

Earlier this month, Vine finally released a version for Android users, though it may have been too late.

Last week, Instagram, a photo-sharing app owned by Facebook, released its newest addition—Video on Instagram.

With apps for both iPhone and Android users, the new update has set the bar for what social media addicts should expect.

A few days ago, Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram, released a statement on the Instagram blog.

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.

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.

You’ll also find that we’ve added thirteen filters built specifically for video so you can keep sharing beautiful content on Instagram. When you post a video, you’ll also be able to select your favorite scene from what you’ve recorded as your cover image so your videos are beautiful even when they’re not playing.

We’re excited to see what the community will bring to video, whether it’s your local cafe showing you just how they made your latte art this morning or an Instagrammer on the other side of the world taking you on a tour of their city, a mother sharing her joys in parenting as her children laugh and play or your favorite athlete taking you behind the scenes.

If there's one thing to be sure of, a little competition is never a bad thing. With every new update or app, social media lovers can expect these leading companies will work to continue improving their products to make them even better and more user-friendly than their competitive counterparts.

Check out the full breakdown:

The full breakdown
  • The full breakdown.

From an Android user's perspective, I must say that Video on Instagram is much better than Vine, based on a few factors:

- The new video option is already built into the existing Instagram app on your phone - you just need to update it. It also comes with filters and an editing feature.

- The new video option allows for 15 seconds of video sharing, rather than just six, though it doesn't loop like Vine.

- Video on Instagram also allows users to choose the front-facing camera. Vine for Android users does not.

Unfortunately, I can't offer a perspective for iPhone users. However, it is safe to say that the number of Video on Instagram users has definitely surpassed that of Vine. Prior to its new development, Instagram already had 130 million users, compared to 20 million Vine users.

According to CNBC, just one day after Video on Instagram was released, Vine shares on Twitter dropped more than 50 percent, from 2.9 million to 1.35 million.

Check out the full chart.

For now, Video on Instagram may be the next best thing for both iPhone and Android users alike—though only time will tell what competition will bring to the table next.

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