15 seconds of Instagram breakfast, anyone?
“Instagram is dead.”
“Vine is dead.”
Social media is quick to kill platforms when others launch or add new features.
This is why video is a bad move for Instagram:
Images are fast, super communicative and, and in a way, voyeur-ish. They are easy to consume, the 612x612 pixel images tell only parts of a story and you have to add context yourself, as a spectactor.
15 seconds are a long time and this is the two way problem for Instagram video: it is too short to tell a story. And it is a bit too long to watch. The 15 second Instagram clip has to be really good for you to spend time watching it. Because the video will just be there, in your feed, sometimes autoplaying. During the same time, in old Instagram, you will be able to view, and maybe even like, some 10-20 images.
To tell a good story in just 15 seconds is really hard. It is easier to snap, add filter, write a caption and post. And wait for the reward, the likes. Now you have to create something new and something worth 15 seconds of time. The risk is your Instagram friends will add a lot of noise to your feed posting videos (luckily there is a auto play on/off in the settings…).
On Youtube and Vimeo you often watch longer videos, the difference is you actively look for them yourself, on the specific platform. On Instagram we are used to images. The videos will add something you might not want in your feed.
Some say the video format on Instagram is just another ad carrier. If that is the case, the paradigm is true: If you’re not paying for it, you are the product. Or, at least, your content is.
But hey, now we all can consume other people’s breakfasts via Instagram. In 25 frames per second.
