Today, Facebook announced “video on Instagram.” While this wasn’t exactly a surprise to most people (it has already been leaked a few weeks ago), it is a surprise because of how similar, yet different Instagram is when you compare it to the video-sharing app, Vine.
Features of video on Instagram
Instagram’s foray into video now gives users the following capabilities within the Instagram app.
- Shoot photos or videos
- Videos are 15 seconds in length and include audio
- Custom filters
- Cinema stabilization
- Leverage the 100 million+ user Instagram community
How to shoot video on Instagram
Shooting video on Instagram
To shoot video on Instagram:
- Launch Instagram
- Click on the video camera app icon
- Press and hold on the video camera icon – this will record video
- If you need to stop in the middle of shooting, stop pressing on the icon
Once you select the camera icon, if you want to use the front-facing camera, click this icon. To begin recording, press and hold the red camera icon.
Customizing video on Instagram with filters
Unlike Vine, where you cannot add filters to your videos, Instagram carries over the same filters they use with their camera.
To use them, simply select one (or none) and it will be applied to your video. There’s even a nifty preview screen so that you can see how the filter looks on your video.
Video covers on Instagram
One other nice feature that Instagram has included is the ability to add a cover to your video. The cover you select (which is basically a single frame from your video), will show up in the Instagram stream.
This means no more blurry images at the start of your video!
Editing videos on Instagram
If you make a mistake during shooting, you can go back and edit your video – even deleting certain segments.
To do this, simply press the delete (x) symbol.
Note: If you press the delete button (x) and then press and hold on the trash can, it will let you delete all of the clips you have filmed.
Sharing video on Instagram
Once you’ve shot your video on Instagram, and added in a filter, the only thing left to do is share it.
This works exactly how Instagram currently works. When you share videos on Instagram, they appear in the stream with a video icon.
Note: Instagram also saves a copy of your video to your camera roll on your device.
Here’s an example of a video on Instagram in the news feed.
Instagram vs. Vine
With Instagram’s new video capabilities, how does it compare to Vine, a similar video-sharing tool, that has been available for about six months.
For starters, video on Instagram is available today for iOS as well as Android. Vine launched on iOS in January, and some six months, they launched Vine for Google Android.
Here’s a breakdown of video on Instagram vs. Vine
Video on Instagram
- 15 seconds
- Custom video filters
- Cinema stabilization
- Ability to edit videos before they are uploaded
- 100 million+ users
Video on Vine
- 6 seconds
- No video filters
- No stabilization
- No ability to edit videos before uploading them
- Small community of Vine users
This means you can easily shoot videos and if you make a mistake, go back and edit them.
As far as the video quality between Instagram and Vine, they both how does video on Instagram compare to video on Vine? As I mentioned, while they both offer the ability to record short snippets of video and share them with their respective communities,
Instagram + Facebook
With the launch of video on Instagram and the new Facebook news feed, I’m expecting to see a lot more videos from Instagram showing up in my Facebook news feed.
If the two applications ever merge, this will make Facebook an extremely powerful tool, not just for viewing content from your friends and Facebook Pages that you’ve liked, but it will be a tool which you can use to create your own content.
How to get video on Instagram
To get video on Instagram on your mobile device, simply download the Instagram app.
If you already have Instagram installed, all you need to do is update your current app.
Wrap-up: Is video on Instagram worth it?
Having used Vine for a number of months, I came away thoroughly impressed by video on Instagram. It wasn’t because I could tap into the 100 million+ Instagram users (that’s always nice). What I liked best was the toolset that they provided – especially the ability to shoot a video, add a filter, and even go back and return to the beginning and edit the video.
To me, this was well thought out update to Instagram.
Question: Are you a Vine user? How will video on Instagram change your habits? Will you continue to use both tools, consolidate your social media tools to just one? You can leave a comment by clicking here.