Facebook has just launched its new Instagram Video service and associated app to the social networking community and here TechWench will discuss what the service entails and will the public take to it? What are its chances as a new networking tool? Stick with TechWench as we get the scoop on Instagram Video.
The Instagram photo sharing network has enjoyed a massive success following the myspace wave and alongside Facebooks early rise to power as it allows a rudimentary level of image editing and processing options coupled with a pronounced bent on social networking with friends means that Instagram is iconic in the respect that it brought image based networking to the masses. Other, older services still have some tinges of Web 1.0 in the publics eye, the internet didn’t really arrive to the masses until the past eight or so years, prior to this it was still the preserve of the nerds on a regular basis with the muggles popping in now and again. Web 2.0 changed all that, the clunky Table based HTML websites were thrown out, in with the bevelled edges and user interaction.
This made the web a lot more accessible as it also widened its applications to the general public. They could share with their friends seamlessly and their friends would have devices that could see their shared pictures. What led to Instagrams success was in its timing and accessibility; it came just as smartphones were being to stream off the shelves and people needed a service suited to the mobile generation who were so far unfamiliar with using photographic technology on a day to day basis. It allowed for a whole new generation of old and young to begin sharing photos within a network easily; this in turn allowed the owners to sell Instagram to Facebook to the tune of $1bn.
So what has Facebook done with the service? Well they have integrated the two services so sharing with your Instagram network also shares on your Facebook network and indeed other linked accounts. Whether that was really worth a billion bucks is not for me to say really but the whizkids over at Facebook certainly thought so. It has brought the service to even more people, perhaps more notably the mom and pop generation who were aware of Facebook but not so much of other types of social network available to them. Now with the launch of Instagram Video, Facebook looks to be attempting to change the face of social networking again.
The launch comes alongside Twitters recently announced Vine service, a video sharing network for clips upto 7 seconds long, aiming more at the creation of video snapshots. A not so dissimilar approach it has to Twitters 140 character limit on tweets. The differences between Twitter and Facebook also transcribe to Vine and Instagram Video; shorter snapshots, longer postcards. The postcards being the 15 second limit on the length of Instagram Videos, the focus being on sharing brief glimpses with family and friends judging from the launch video;
But will the public take to it? There’s few reasons why not but there is no definitive formulae for whether an online service goes viral or is ignored enmasse. The public internet wants to discover services for themselves not have them driven into them which has become Facebooks approach since its introduction of in—feed advertisements which are largely scanned by with nary a regard for their content. This is Facebooks problem now; implementation of new services within its traditionally minimalistic front and making the public aware of Instagram Video’s presence and capabilities without switching off the public interest.
The public may very well take to the idea happily but there is a higher background technological requirement associated with introducing video sharing services. Youtube manages it with its scope and being the first widely accepted video sharing network but began at a time when video processing was largely performed on desktops as was the playback. These years its mobile all the way and the tech has never been better with dual-core processor smartphones available sporting over a gigabyte of RAM; sassy tech. The smartphone has been disseminated to a large enough portion of the population and enough of that population is into mobile networking and mobile video; the stage is set I guess?
Lets hope wi-fi has spread far enough for this network to get off the ground; consider the data bandwidth required to have a truly mobile and capable mobile video service. The public certainly will consider the data requirement and factor it into their acceptance of the service; if they cannot access it they will switch off in droves. These days are unforgiving to new networks and so lets hope Facebook hasn’t left any holes in the programming.