Content creators rejoice! Instagram recently announced that they will be rolling out 60-second videos to all users. From the platform’s blog, “the time people spent watching video increased by more than 40 percent. And longer videos mean more diverse stories from the accounts you love.”
Video Creators on Instagram from Instagram on Vimeo.
The increased video length lets Instagram users flex their creative muscles to post even greater content for their followers. Of course, the tools to create these longer videos need to be available in order to create a seamless experience in order to utilize the extended video time to its full potential. iPhone users will be able to create videos from multiple clips from their camera rolls, much like Vine and Snapchat, to tell a more cohesive and complex story, a feature once available on earlier versions of Instagram.
Back in February, advertisers were given access to 60-second Instagram videos; the expansion of extended video to all users is an indication that the new format performed successfully during its initial launch. With Facebook’s great success with video advertisements, it’s no surprise that Instagram is hopping onto its parent company’s bandwagon.
Since the launch of Vine and Snapchat, short form video has become an integral part of the media that we consume daily. It gives brands an opportunity to really capture the attention of their audiences with high quality content that their audiences will want to engage with. With video content on the rise, there is no doubt that “video is the next step of social networking, and indeed of the Internet at large (WaPo).”
