IGTV
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Facebook is shutting down the college social network you didn't use
Facebook is shutting down its student-only Campus social network on March 10th in favor of college groups.
Instagram brings IGTV videos out of their silo and into your regular feed
Instagram is unifying IGTV with the regular videos in your feed, and it's giving you more editing tools at the same time.
Instagram makes it easier for its most popular users to make money
Instagram is expanding badges for live streams and commercials in IGTV videos.
Instagram's built-in shopping cart is coming to IGTV and Reels
Instagram is pushing its in-app shopping into even more parts of its app.
Instagram brings commercials to IGTV to lure influencers
Instagram's IGTV is getting commercials and the company plans to share revenue.
Instagram Live videos can now be saved to IGTV
Until now, live streams had only been archived for 24 hours in stories.
Instagram's redesigned IGTV app helps you find new creators to follow
Instagram has started rolling out a redesigned IGTV app that features a redesigned interface and a couple of creator-focused features.
Instagram removes the IGTV button you weren't using
Instagram's IGTV was supposed to usher in a new era for video in the social network, but that's not quite how it panned out. And now, the company is tempering its expectations. A Facebook spokesperson has confirmed to TechCrunch that Instagram is removing the IGTV icon at the top of its main interface. "Very few" people use the icon, Facebook said -- instead, most are watching IGTV videos through their main feed, the relevant Explore channel, user profiles or the dedicated IGTV app.
Michelle Obama is hosting an IGTV series about getting into college
IGTV isn't the most exciting destination for original video, but Instagram isn't giving up. Instead it's bringing in more star power. Up next: Michelle Obama will host a six-episode series about getting into college.
Instagram lets IGTV creators send notifications to fans
Instagram has added a few features to make it easier for anyone to create and share series on IGTV. Now, creators can blast their fans with notifications. They can organize videos on a series page and have a series title appear on each video. And, when viewers watch an episode from a series, IGTV will automatically recommend the next episode.
Jonah Hill tackles bullying in new Instagram TV series
IGTV may not be capturing hearts and minds but at least Instagram is leveraging the platform to talk about important issues. Starting today, Instagram users can watch a new four-part series from the Facebook-owned company and 22 Jump Street actor Jonah Hill, reports Variety. The series, titled Un-filtered, features Hill interviewing 13 to 25-year-olds about their experiences with bullying. In some instances, Hill also interviews people who were bullies. The series also touches on both cyber and offline bullying.
Landscape videos are finally a thing on IGTV
Instagram's video platform, IGTV, will now feature videos in landscape view along with its traditional portrait format. The addition of horizontal videos isn't just a new feature for IGTV -- it's a shift in the product's original purpose. The company originally hoped that sticking to a vertical, hard-to-reuse format would force creators to come up with new content just for the app rather than just repost YouTube videos.
Instagram's revamped Explore section includes Stories
Stories are an increasingly important part of Instagram, and the social network wants to be sure you see more of them. It just unveiled a revamped Explore tab that will feature personalized Stories recommendations. You won't have to track down a specific person (or rely on the carousel on your home feed) to watch ephemeral videos. The feature will roll out in the "coming weeks," Instagram said, so don't worry if you don't see Stories right away.
Instagram finally tests a fast-forward feature for videos
In a move so overdue you're probably checking the date stamp on this article, Instagram could finally be about to launch a seek bar on videos posted on users' feeds. The feature, discovered by app researcher Jane Manchun Wong, would let you skip backwards and forwards through a video without having to start it again from the beginning (as every other video player ever made already allows).
IGTV is coming to your Instagram feed whether you like it or not
Watch much Instagram TV lately? Yeah, I didn't think so. That's not stopping Instagram from continuing to shove the little-loved feature down our throats, though. In a tweet today, the company revealed that IGTV clips from accounts you follow will start showing up in your feed. Based on the preview video Instagram shared, it looks like it'll just be a preview in your feed that people can then tap if they want to see the full video.
Instagram may soon let you tag your friends in videos
Instagram is testing a feature that lets users tag their friends in videos. Unlike with photos, where an overlay on the image shows everyone who's tagged, you can tap a button that takes you to page listing all the people tagged in the clip.
Instagram’s IGTV could soon challenge YouTube’s dominance
Instagram was born as a simple photo-sharing app in 2010, but it began moving into video in 2013, when it started letting users upload short clips. Now, five years after making that initial push into the space, the company plans to take its efforts even further with the launch of IGVT. It's a stand-alone app that'll feature vertical videos up to an hour long, which is a major shift from the one-minute time limit on Instagram. IGTV will also have a dedicated space in the main Instagram app, in case you want to watch these videos in the same place you look at pictures and Stories. With creators including Fortnite champ Ninja and singer Lele Pons on board, it's clear Instagram wants to lure internet personalities like them to IGTV -- even if it can't pay them just yet.
A first look at Instagram's IGTV
As rumored, Instagram is ready to get into long-form video. And today the company made those plans official with the reveal of IGTV, its new standalone video app geared toward internet creators, like the ones who have made a living out of YouTube. IGTV is all about vertical videos, and although it has its own app, you can get the full experience within the main Instagram application, too -- from uploading to keeping up with your favorite content makers, including the cutest dog on earth, Jiffpom. Inside Instagram, soon you'll see an icon that'll take you into the full vertical video experience, or you can choose to download the IGTV app if you want to keep Stories and pictures out of it.
Instagram reaches 1 billion monthly users
After surpassing 800 million monthly active users last September, we knew it was only a matter of time before Instagram would reach that coveted 1 billion mark -- and today is that day. The company has announced its latest milestone at an event in San Francisco, where it's also launching IGTV, its new standalone long-form video app. With 1 billion monthly actives, Instagram continues to grow at a tremendous pace since being acquired by Facebook in 2012, when it had just 40 million. If that's not impressive, then what is? Instagram now also joins other Facebook-owned social apps that have hit that remarkable number: Messenger (1.3 billion) and WhatsApp (1.5 billion). And then, of course, there's Facebook, which is at 2.2 billion and counting. Despite the privacy controversies of late, it's clear people love Facebook products, and Instagram's insane growth is only one of the many perfect examples of that.
Instagram takes on Snapchat and YouTube with IGTV
Where there's smoke, there's fire. For Instagram, that smoke recently came in the form of rumors about it launching a feature to host curated, long-form videos in its app. And well, there's fire, alright. Today, at an event in San Francisco, Instagram made IGTV official, a new standalone app geared toward creators like those on YouTube and Snapchat Discover. As expected, this is all about giving users the ability to upload videos that are longer than a minute (up to an hour). And yes, the footage is vertical, as this is intended to be a mobile-first experience. IGTV will be available on Android and iOS "in the coming days," but you can watch the longer videos starting today inside the main Instagram app.
