Instagram seems to have evolved enormously this year, becoming a sophisticated and multi-level social app. So how will its latest updates continue to transform the platform?

The first new update to roll out is the app’s new live-video feature for Instagram Stories, enabling users to live-stream content that disappears once viewed. To share Live videos, the user needs to simply swipe right from Instagram’s Stories camera and touch the “Start Live video button”, and followers who have shown prior interest in the feature will be notified to watch. Live tags will also appear at the top of followers’ home feeds, while highlighted live videos will be displayed on the Explore page in accordance with the user’s location, language and popularity. It’s interesting that not all followers will be notified, and videos won’t be published to users’ feeds- this should help keep content separate and avoid notification overload.  Users will also be able to comment on or add “heart” symbols to the videos they watch, while those uploading the videos will be able to share comments too. Instagram’s other update is seeing its Direct Message feature also house ephemeral content, allowing threads to disappear after messages are watched and replayed once. This bar will sit at the top, next to the permanent conversations underneath. Essentially, users will be able to create Instagram stories and simply share these privately with select friends or groups.

So how will Instagram Live match up to the likes of Snapchat, Periscope and Facebook Live? To us, the new update is most similar to that of Snapchat’s model, which it is clear Instagram has been intent on competing with this year, as seen by the launch of Stories, and now Live. Differences are most apparently between Live and firstly Periscope, in the fact that live stream videos vanish as soon as they end. Periscope on the other hand, enabled live videos to disappear after 24 hours, eventually moving on to allowing unlimited replays and videos which never disappeared. Facebook Live also allows for videos to be permanent, enabling multiple replays too. There are advantages to both models- permanent content for instance can always be referenced in future, and has the ability to rack up a huge view count and greater visibility should it be shared elsewhere online. Content that vanishes immediately ensures creators have to attract audiences with something exciting and attention-grabbing, and will be encouraged to keep producing a great volume of videos should they start to see repeat audiences.

In this way, Instagram Live will be a great marketing tool for brands looking to create teaser campaigns- they will leave their fans wanting more, and be able to create a series of videos based around a new service, product demo, events and tutorials. Likewise, we see Live being used for exclusive brand announcements too, and the ephemeral nature of these videos will likely help prolong audience engagement rates over an extended period of time. B2C brands can also boost their customer service reputation by hosting live Q&A sessions for instance, while B2Bs could benefit from broadcasting weekly live webinar snippets. Finally, the beauty of Live for brands, is the fact that marketers will be able to experiment with the types of content they post, without having to worry that the content will remain a permanent fixture on their profiles- this allows for a rawer and less stylised approach, perhaps offering customers “behind the scenes” glimpses that don’t necessarily have to adhere to the look and feel of the account itself.

Are you looking forward to seeing and using these additional features on Instagram? And how do you think brands will be able to use Live to communicate effectively with followers? We’d love to hear your thoughts, so please tweet to us @PracticeDigital and share your comments on our Facebook page.