After launching ‘Stories’ in August this year, Instagram has come up with two new features that are likely to shoot up its popularity and make it your one pit-stop destination for sharing images and short video stories. The popular image-sharing platform has rolled out two new features: Live Videos on Stories and disappearing photos and videos in Instagram Direct.
“We’ve seen stories open up a new side of what people share on Instagram, and now over 100 million people use it every day. With today’s announcement, you’ll soon have two more ways to share freely and in the moment,” the company shared on a blog.
While the Live Video will allow you to broadcast videos to your followers in real-time (almost like Facebook Live), the update released in Instagram Direct will let you share disappearing videos and images with your followers directly.
Instagram Live Videos
Live video on Instagram Stories helps you connect with your friends and followers in real-time. The feature mimics Twitter’s Periscope, except that the videos disappear as soon as the broadcast stops.
To broadcast live videos follow these steps:
Step 1: Swipe right from feed to open the camera
Step 2: Tap the “Start Live Video” button to start broadcasting
You can broadcast video for an hour and your friends will get a notification when you go live so they can tune-in. You can even pin a comment for everyone to see while you’re live.
“When someone you follow starts a live story, you’ll see “Live” under their profile photo in the stories bar. During the broadcast, you can comment and like as much as you want. You can also check out new live stories on Explore,” Instagram shared on a blog.
Disappearing photos and videos
With the new feature introduced as a part of Instagram Direct, you can send disappearing photos and videos directly to groups and individual friends ‘in a spontaneous, pressure-free way.’
To send a disappearing photo or video follow these steps:
Step 1: Swipe right into the camera to take a photo or video
Step 2: Tap the arrow to send it privately
“Unlike other messages in Direct, these photos and videos disappear from your friends’ inboxes after they have seen them. And you’ll see if they replayed it or took a screenshot. Whether your account is set to public or private, you can only send disappearing photos and videos to people who follow you,” the company added.
Instagram will be rolling out the two features globally over the next few weeks.
