There’s been much praise from amongst The Practice team and the online community for Instagram’s video feature since its launch last Thursday, with many arguing that it knocks Vine out of the market as far as video-sharing apps are concerned. After all, with image stabilisation, filters, an editing and “tap to focus” option, what’s not to love?

To make matters worse for Vine, the amount of Twitter Vines shared has decreased dramatically according to social media analytics site Topsy, in fact seeing a 50 per cent decrease from approximately 2.9 million shares to 1.35 million since Instagram’s video launch. To add further insult to injury, Vine dropped from 2nd to 7th place on the US list of most downloaded free apps all in the space of four days, while slipping from 5^th to 12^th place in the UK.

Instagram has always been heralded an overnight success story after achieving 5 million downloads during the first 24 hours following its launch, as well as a front runner in producing record breaking achievements. Just yesterday, for instance, Justin Bieber’s video in which the star is seen giggling, was the first to achieve in excess of 1 million “likes.” However, not all online reports are excited about the app’s latest surge in momentum. TechCrunch writer Ryan Lawler argues that Instagram has lost its “singularity of purpose”- that its reputation as a solid photo-sharing platform has been diluted by the addition of video. “The epidemic of terrible filtered videos has started”, he quotes from one Twitter user to illustrate his point, adding that “users who have spent the last few years creating highly curated lists of their favourite mobile photographers have spent the last few days wading through a sea of crappy video selfies.” This, he predicts, will be Instagram’s biggest failing because video content is more valuable; videos are not scannable in the way that photos are, and so a bad one could let down an otherwise well-respected profile.

And there’s been further online criticism for Instagram video, with some arguing that Zuckerberg has simply stolen ideas from Vine and the original video-sharing sites such as Viddy and Socialcam. But as TechCrunch’s Alexia Tsotsis remarks, “Since when did having the original idea count for much in technology’s evolution?” After all, as she further adds, Instagram was originally dubbed the new Hipstomatic, and nobody seemed to find fault with that. Other users however, have taken greater heed with the additional slowness, rather than its idea replication. It seems that a loss of half a star from its rating has been down to failures with posting, a clogging of feeds, and slowing down users’ ability to view images. Evidently, there were always going to be some slight teething problems, but we at The Practice feel it’s very unlikely that these will result in Instagram’s fall from grace. Likewise, although the app is dominating online discussion and attracting a greater number of videographers, we can’t see Vine disappearing from our radars any time soon either- can you? After all, when has two ever been a crowd?

So what’s next for video sharing platforms? Perhaps Vine will up the anti as according to Lost Remote, the app is set to play host to a new 22-part soap opera series entitled “The Vines of Sauvignon Blanc”- (“the heart wrenching tale of a wealthy vineyard owner who is told he only has two minutes and six seconds to live as his family plots for power and prestige, all while being incredibly pressed for time.”) Despite the morbid synopsis, we couldn’t refrain from spluttering just a little bit on our coffees…And does this also mean that Instagram too will soon feature “real-life” stories, as New York Times blogger, Jenna Wortham predicts? Aside from this, we believe there’s yet more scope for updating Instagram video; our CEO, Kirsty McAllister, sees the app being improved to allow features such as filter alteration per frame, tilt rotation, speed advancements (slow motion or fast-forwarding options), and enhancements to the audio quality. We just hope these all figure into Instagram’s future!

Please hit the links above for more interesting insights from the online community, and we’d also love to hear and see your responses and “Instavideo” creations. Why not share them with us on Twitter @PracticeDigital and on our Facebook page? And please don’t forget to also take a look at what we’ve been snapping at and videoing on Instagram too!