Enhance The Way You Experience and Create Instagram Videos–Even Without IGTV
FLASHBACK! The year is 2013. The Instagram app lives on your phone, and you’re posting pics once every few days (mostly of what you’re eating for dinner) when all of the sudden—BAM! A tiny video icon appears! You didn’t know it was coming, and you never dreamed it would change social media the way it did.
Years after this amazing change, video content has taken the spotlight on social media with the rise of Snapchat, TikTok, and the heavy-weight champion they’re all trying to beat—YouTube. Instagram had to accommodate the demand for video entertainment. So in 2018, they introduced IGTV. IGTV provided a space where users could upload videos up to 60 minutes long.
That’s right! Instagram went head to head with YouTube…and YouTube won.
So what happened to IGTV?
Well in the summer of 2021, Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri announced that they would be trending towards easy to access, short-form entertainment. Instagram would be focusing on four key areas of development—Creators, Shopping, Messaging, and VIDEO. So even though IGTV was on its way out, video content is here to stay.
And there’s no need to fret! Your IGTV videos are still making their way around the interwebs. They now live with your Instagram feed videos inside the Instagram Videos Tab on your profile.
PRO TIP: Instagram Reels are not included in this tab! Your IG Reels live in their own tab because of the additional features like vertical videos, trending audios, video remixes, and AR effects available in Reel creation. You’ve probably already guessed this, but Reels are Instagram’s take on Gen Z’s most loved (for the time being) social media app, TikTok.
What features does Instagram Video offer?
- Easily upload videos.
- Trimming tools, filters, and the option to tag people and locations.
- A 60-second preview of videos in your feed.
- Access full-screen mode by tapping anywhere on a video. (This action previously muted a video’s audio.)
- 60-minute in-feed videos—now your followers don’t have to leave the main app to watch them.
- A new Video tab on your profile, making it easier to find and access video content.
- Simplified performance tracking. The analytics for all of your video content will now be in one place in Instagram insights.
- 60-second Instagram in-stream video ads.
More to Change in the World of “Meta” and Beyond
The elimination of IGTV is likely only one of the many updates we should expect from Instagram. During the fourth quarter of 2021, Facebook, Inc. (which owns Instagram), rebranded itself as “Meta”. This legendary rebranding is the official introduction into the world of the metaverse. What does that mean for social platforms in the next few years? That’s yet to be seen.
But most likely, it will mean changes, updates, new features, and saying goodbye to outdated strategies. So, basically, EXACTLY how things are now. HA!
When it comes to social media, changes can happen almost every week. We’ll rarely know what is about to change, and we’ll almost never know when it’s going to change. The one thing we do know is that they’ll continue happening, and we’ll keep staying on top of them. If you’re wondering how you’ll do the same, fear not! We’ve got you covered.
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