The used-to-be photo-only platform may soon allow users to post one hour long videos.
Instagram used to be a photo-only platform when it first debuted back in 2010. Fast forward three years later, it introduced 15 second videos to compete with the now-defunct Vine. Eventually, Instagram lengthened the videos to 60 seconds and added 15 second videos to Stories.
But now, rumours suggest that the Facebook-owned platform might be making a big leap and start supporting hour-long videos. So basically, your feed will end up looking like YouTube.
A report in The Wall Street Journal claims that this will come as an update. The videos would be in vertical format, similar to Stories videos.
Although this report is not yet confirmed and there are no further details to enlighten us, the move is not that surprising.
Instagram is owned by Facebook and the latter makes more money on ad revenues played on native videos on Facebook. The longer the video, the more ad space available, the more it can charge. However, teens are already abandoning the platform for Instagram and Youtube. Long videos on Instagram are only possible on Stories Live but it can’t really monetize that since there are no ads. The solution? Allow longer video posts.
This is also an obvious way to compete with YouTube. A recent study by Pew actually shows that YouTube has become the number one social network for US teens.
Again, this news is not yet confirmed and the WSJ has described the plan as “tentative” and “subject to change”. This means it may still not see the light of the day. But if it does come and you’re not a fan, you can always mute those annoying friends eh?
