Stuff

    Subscribe to our newsletter

    What's Hot
    Vodacom

    Vodacom launches its ‘Good as New’ refurbished iPhone range

    July 6, 2022
    VS Gaming Weekly

    South African esports gets its own TV show – This is VS Gaming Weekly

    July 6, 2022
    Shanghai

    Shanghai hack sees over 23TB of personal information up for sale

    July 6, 2022
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube SoundCloud
    Trending
    • Vodacom launches its ‘Good as New’ refurbished iPhone range
    • South African esports gets its own TV show – This is VS Gaming Weekly
    • Shanghai hack sees over 23TB of personal information up for sale
    • How Discovery Insure is making people better drivers and saving lives – T2S2
    • Glance is here to absolutely ruin your day. And your lock-screen
    • This is what a 3D-printed lunar base built by autonomous robots might look like
    • Nigeria’s latest lithium find: some key questions answered
    • Asus ROG Phone 6 and 6 Pro models announced, will land in SA (eventually)
    Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube
    Stuff Stuff
    • News
      • App News
      • Business News
      • Camera News
      • Gaming News
      • Headphone News
      • Industry News
      • Internet News
      • Laptops News
      • Motoring News
      • Other Tech News
      • Phone News
      • Tablet News
      • Technology News
      • TV News
      • Wearables News
    • Reviews
      • Camera Reviews
      • Car Reviews
      • Featured Reviews
      • Game Reviews
      • Headphone Reviews
      • Laptop Reviews
      • Other Tech Reviews
      • Phone Reviews
      • Tablet Reviews
      • Wearables Reviews
    • Columns
    • Stuff Guides
    • Podcasts & Videos
      • Videos
      • Stuffed
      • Stuffing Around
      • Tech Byte
      • T2S2
    • Win
    • Subscribe
      • Print
      • Digital
        • Google Play
        • iTunes
        • Download
        • Zinio
    • Stuff Shop
      • Shop Now
      • My Account
      • Downloads
    • Contact Us
      • Get In Touch
      • Advertise
    0 Shopping Cart
    Stuff
    Home » News » App News » Nothing special: Instagram wants to be a video platform more than ever
    App News

    Nothing special: Instagram wants to be a video platform more than ever

    MarcéBy MarcéJuly 7, 2021Updated:October 1, 2021No Comments3 Mins Read
    Instagram
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Instagram has always been the photo-sharing app. Since its creation, budding photographers and bored teens equipped with first-gen smartphones signed up to show the world their snaps. 

    These generally came in a square format and donned weird and wonderful filters that made selfies look overly edited. But it wasn’t Facebook, it was visual and promoted creative work in various ways. Since then, a lot’s happened to the app, most notably — Facebook bought it. And now it’s a different monster altogether. 

    Rise of the ‘gram

    It’s accumulated over 1 billion active users, gave rise to what we now call influencers and paved the way for many creatives and brands. But there’s a new fad on the block, and Instagram doesn’t want to be left behind. Gotta have the newest toys, eh Insta? 

    Now the social platform is investing more time and resources in video content. This may establish its position as a major player as a video platform, but it may push away the very people that helped grow the photo-sharing app’s popularity.

    Just look at TikTok’s wild growth over the past few years. Video is the current format of choice. It’s every brand, influencer and media platform’s major focus, and if it’s not, they’re dragging behind. Then there’s old faithful YouTube which is currently the second-most visited website on the internet. People love videos, and Insta wants to capitalise. As we all know social platforms have one end-goal, and it’s not to keep their users happy. 

    Instagram feeling the video vide

    Last week, Instagram‘s CEO, Adam Mosseri (who dethroned the co-founders of the app in 2018 — thanks Zuck), said in a video that the platform’s now focusing on ‘creators, video, shopping, and messaging’. There was a distinct focus on ‘video’ throughout his video, and he even name-drops the Chinese short video format app we mentioned earlier. 

    Changes are coming to video on Instagram 📺

    At Instagram we’re always trying to build new features that help you get the most out of your experience. Right now we’re focused on four key areas: Creators, Video, Shopping and Messaging. pic.twitter.com/ezFp4hfDpf

    — Adam Mosseri 😷 (@mosseri) June 30, 2021

    “One of the early experiments Instagram is going to try out is playing with your feed and giving you more recommendations on topics or interests you might not be explicitly following on the app yet. A recent test by the app puts suggested posts from different topics on your timeline, and let you choose if you want to see more or less content related to that topic,” TNW details what Mosseri plans to do with the app in coming months.

    Insta launched IGTV in 2018, but it never really took off — more recently it launched Reels, which has been far more popular. Simply because it follows the full-screen short-style format we know from TikTok. Then there’s also Stories — the wildly popular disappearing content feature blatantly stolen from Snapchat. 

    More of the same

    Right now, social media platforms all seem to feature at least one or two rip-offs from competitors when it comes to features — Facebook’s become an absolute mess of random features that Zuck thought would work because they’re successful in other apps. And a similar thing’s happening to LinkedIn and Instagram.

    Nothing’s really unique in Silicon Valley anymore. It’s all about seeing how well you can copy a different app’s features without getting in trouble — a method Facebook’s suite of apps has been increasingly guilty of.

    featured Instagram social media TikTok video YouTube
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Tumblr Email
    Marcé

      If I had a business card, it'd say 'Digital Editor at Stuff'. But I don't because my gamertag is more useful than a business card. I write about tech industry, hardware, software, games and motoring.

      Related Posts

      Vodacom

      Vodacom launches its ‘Good as New’ refurbished iPhone range

      July 6, 2022
      VS Gaming Weekly

      South African esports gets its own TV show – This is VS Gaming Weekly

      July 6, 2022
      Shanghai

      Shanghai hack sees over 23TB of personal information up for sale

      July 6, 2022

      Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

      In The Mag
      Stuff June-July 2022 Latest Issue

      In This Issue – The Outdoors (June-July 2022) Issue

      By Brett VenterMay 30, 20221

      Once again, we are asking you to check out a new issue of Stuff Magazine.…

      2021 Wish List
      wish list Stuff Wish List 2021

      Stuff Wish List: for the tech impaired

      By Duncan PikeDecember 22, 20210

      Are you from the time before being glued to a smartphone was considered normal? Here’s…

      Wishlist DIY Stuff tech

      Stuff Wish List: for the DIY Diehard

      December 21, 2021
      Wish List Gearhead

      Stuff Wish List: For the petrol-soaked gearhead

      December 20, 2021
      outsiders

      Stuff Wish List: for the Outsiders

      December 17, 2021

      Latest Video

      Sonos

      SONOS Roam SL unboxing by Toby Shapshak

      March 30, 2022
      Mini Cooper

      The Mini Cooper SE Electric with Toby Shapshak

      March 18, 2022
      MSI Crosshair 15 Rainbox Six Extraction Edition unboxing

      MSI Crosshair 15 Rainbox Six Extraction Edition unboxing

      March 16, 2022
      Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra Unboxing

      Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra unboxing with Toby Shapshak

      March 16, 2022
      Contact

      South Africa's Consumer Tech News Hub

      General: [email protected]
      Subscriptions: [email protected] or 087 353 1291
      Editorial: 072 735 2614
      Sales: 083 375 2418

      Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube SoundCloud

      Subscribe to Updates

      • Terms and Conditions
      • Privacy & POPI
      • My account
      © 2022 Stuff Group. Designed by Chronon.

      Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.