The latest Instagram feature, Live video on Instagram Stories, was announced yesterday.
Using Instagram stories the Live video in Instagram Stories may be a kind of rival for Facebook live, but Facebook saves live videos for later viewing. It does not seem that Instagram will do the same.
In August Instagram Stories was launched to allow you to capture and share a snippet of your day which can be viewed by others following you as a slideshow mixed up with all of the other people they are following. Now you can share more than a moment of your day as the live video feed will run for up to an hour.
As well as this Instagram has also launched disappearing videos and photos within Instagram Direct which you can send to anyone who is following you. (Is this a rival to Snapchat?) Once your friends have viewed the photo or video it will disappear. You will also know if they replayed it or have taken a screenshot, unlike Snapchat where you can hold and save.
It seems that around 300 million people around the world use Instagram Direct each month.
So these are two more ways of sharing.
You may not yet have either of these features as they are getting rolled out over the next few weeks, but soon you will be able to share Live Video with your followers for up to an hour.
Will you use it?
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
