Facebook Adds 15-Second Video Clips to Instagram The new video tool resembles Twitter's recent product launch, Vine. The battles continues.
By Jason Fell
Users of Facebook's popular photo-sharing tool Instagram will soon be able to share more than just pictures of cute babies and puppies wearing hats. At a press event today at its Menlo Park, Calif. headquarters, Facebook -- which acquired Instagram last year for $1 billion -- announced that it is adding the capability to share short, 15-second videos to Instagram.
"This is the same Instagram we all know and love, but now it moves," Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom said at the event.
Launching today on iOS as well as Android, users will be able to record and share 15-second videos on Instagram, much like how Twitter users can record six-second video clips using Vine. Unlike Vine videos, Systrom said Instagram videos will not loop, playing over and over again.
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Some additional features: Users will be able to alter their videos using 13 custom design filters and add cover frames to their videos. Instagram has also developed a tool it's calling "Cinema," which essentially aims to clean up shaky images of videos taken of moving objects.
The point of video on Instagram is for videos to be "fast, simple and beautiful," Systrom said.
Earlier this week, Twitter's Vine said in a blog post that it will be announcing "some exciting new parts" of the micro-video sharing tool over the next few weeks. Vine was launched earlier this year and has 13 million users.
At the press event, Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Instagram now has more than 100 million active members. With Instagram, Zuckerberg said Facebook is "just getting started."
Related: How Instagram's Co-Founder Spent His Year After Facebook's $1 Billion Acquisition
