The new feature, introduced in the latest iOS and Android Instagram app updates, allows users to capture up to 15-seconds of video. They can then add a selection of 13 filters to the video before uploading it.
Other features include the ability to refocus while filming by tapping the area of the screen you want to focus on, as well as some basic editing options. iPhone 4S and 5 owners are also offered some optional in-built image stabilisation technology.
Although Twitter has become one of the most popular methods for the 100 million plus active Instagram users to share their photos, Facebook bought the photography site for an estimated $1 billion in April last year. Instagram video will therefore go head-to-head with Twitter’s own micro-video service Vine, launched earlier this year.
With its more robust features and double the recording time (Vine users are limited to 7 seconds), the initial release of Instagram video already offers significant advantages over its competitor. However, Instagram videos do not 'loop' in the same way as Vine ones.
Newstalk's Jessica Kelly captured a video of Newstalk HQ to showcase the new feature:
