Facebook might soon expand its popular live video feature to Instagram as well. The feature is reportedly being tested with a few users in Russia.
Borrowing from its parent company Facebook’s repertoire, Instagram may soon be receiving a live video feature as well. According to a Russian publication, T Journal, a new experimental Instagram feature has been spotted in the country. Some users could see an icon next to the Instagram stories, which was marked as ‘Live’. Additionally, the publication also shares a screenshot of the feature, which said ‘Go Insta’ at the bottom of the screen. Presumably, that would be the name of the new feature, and tapping on the ‘Go Insta’ bar at the bottom of the screen would allow users to go live. Instagram has not officially announced anything regarding the feature yet, and there is no information about when and if the live feature will be rolled out to end users.
Instagram has lately been adding quite a handful of features and updates to the app. In August, Instagram introduced a ‘Stories’ tab to the app, which bore uncanny resemblance to Snapchat. Just like the latter, Instagram Stories, allows users to share photos and video with a self-destructing life span of 24 hours. Also, the Stories feature allows users to embellish their pictures with doodles, texts and stickers. Additionally, last week, Instagram updated its app by bringing Stories to the Explore tab in an attempt to increase their reach. “More than 100 million people visit Explore every day to discover photos and videos from people they don’t yet follow. The new suggested stories section highlights the most interesting Stories from across Instagram’s vast global community,” Instagram said in a blog post.
Early this year, Facebook launched the live video feature on the social networking site, and since then Facebook has been pushing out this feature in full power. While now it is extending the feature to Instagram, Facebook itself has been making a number of changes to the feature to make it more and more desirable for every Facebook user. Last week, Facebook added an option to the live video feature, which allowed users to schedule these videos. Up until now, many live video bloggers faced the problem where they found a no show for their live broadcast because they wouldn’t get an opportunity to build an audience before they went on live. The newly announced feature is currently limited to verified users, and is soon expected to be rolled out for all.
Additionally, last month Facebook revealed that it will soon be bringing the live video feature to desktop as well. And considering Facebook is ranging the feature to Instagram, the desktop version of live video seems to be in order. It is to note that Facebook Live on desktops and laptops will be compatible with both peripheral camera and in-built cameras. Recently, Facebook expanded the time limit of broadcasting on Facebook Live from two hours up to four hours. Also, people and Page administrators on Facebook are now able to broadcast live videos in both full screen and video-only mode. ALSO READ: Facebook Live video feature is coming to desktops soon
It’s been for a while that Facebook has been mixing and matching a lot of features across its different platforms. Earlier this month, Facebook-owned WhatsApp added Snapchat-like ability to scribble over images shared on the app. Essentially, WhatsApp now allows users to doodle and scribble on the images clicked or shared from the app, like in Snapchat. The feature was first rolled out only for Android users; last week the feature was rolled out for iOS users as well. Along with the Snapchat-like doodle feature, the update also brought additions like the ability to add emojis and color texts on top of the images, front-facing flash support, and the option to zoom in and out video recordings. ALSO READ: WhatsApp for iOS app updated with Snapchat-like doodle feature
Similarly, few weeks ago, Facebook was reported to have been testing a Snapchat-inspired Stories feature for users in Poland. Under the guise of celebrating the “Messenger Day.” Facebook had rolled out a new tool which allowed users on Messenger to click and upload photos and videos, that are visible to all their friends, and disappear within 24 hours of being put up. And yes, these Messenger Stories can also be decorated using stickers, tests and doodles, just like in Snapchat, and now in Instagram Stories. ALSO READ: 6 Instagram handles you should follow