Today is an event double-whammy, with Facebook starting things off and Samsung following shortly thereafter. Facebook used its event this afternoon to announce that Instagram is gaining video-sharing capabilities, confirming the rumblings that first started popping up earlier this week.
With its new video support, Instagram will allow users to capture 15 seconds of action and then apply one of 13 custom filters that are only available for video. After the video is captured, a user can select a custom Cover Frame for the clip that will appear in their friends' feeds and entice them to watch them entire thing. Instagram is also enabling a feature called "Cinema" for its videos, which is a cinematic stabilization capability that will help cut down on the shaking in users' clips.
Video for Instagram is coming today to both Android and iOS, which is exciting news for the Android users that endured a lengthy period of Instagram iOS exclusivity before the app finally came to Android last year. The update is already available for iOS users in the App Store, and while it's not showing up quite yet in the Google Play Store for Android, it should be arriving soon.
Instagram has been one of the most popular ways to share photos on mobile for some time now, but the service has recently been splitting its content-sharing throne with Vine, an app that allows users to capture and post six-second videos. With today's announcement, it looks like Instagram has decided that it wants a slice of that video action as well. What will be interesting is seeing how many people begin using Instagram for video, which supports 15-second clips, rather than dedicated video-sharing app Vine and its six-second videos. What do you all think of today's announcement? Will you begin recording and posting videos on Instagram?
Via Instagram blog, Instagram: iOS App Store, Google Play for Android
