Facebook has used its media event to show off an update to
Instagram that adds video to the service. The new addition to the app, putting it directly against short video service
Vine from Twitter, will allow users to record up to 15 seconds of video, with the option to add various filters and edits to the freshly-recorded footage.
The Instagram app now offers a video capture button alongside still images. Scenes of a larger clip are identified and can be edited or removed individually, offering more control of a video's narrative. Finished clips can have one of 13 new filters added to the video, the cover image can be selected from an individual frame instead of using the first frame shown, with the final edited video able to be uploaded to the service in the same way as photos are treated. An extra feature called Cinema also got introduced on stage by Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom, which applies image stabilization to videos shot within the app.
So far, the Instagram team has tripled in size since its
billion-dollar acquisition by Facebook, and has seen 16 billion photos shared in the last two and a half years, currently processes around 1 billion likes per day, and is used by 130 million people every month.
Video for Instagram will be available today, releasing on both
iOS and
Android at the same time.
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