Here's How Instagram could Kill Snapchat in 2017

Sure, we were just talking about how Instagram Stories and future features tap to view and tap to buy are transforming Instagram into a more addictive app.

Instagram is now bringing us new ways to share in the moment, nifty disappearing live videos to really give people that sneak peak on your life, or your brand.

100 Million people use Stories now, three months after the feature was launched. Instagram says:

Live video on Instagram Stories helps you connect with your friends and followers right now. When you’re done, your live story disappears from the app so you can feel more comfortable sharing anything, anytime.

Instagram Disappearing Video Turns up Heat on Snapchat

The reality is this might be the Snap-Killer of add-ons. Facebook Live is seeking tremendous reach and success with News publications, so we can expect for personal branding and retail brands this live video feature is great just in time for the Holidays.

Posting photos and high quality images is still mid-funnel fun, but it's getting a bit old school. A lot of the engagement now occurs at the top of the marketing funnel of Instagram, in stories. That's why, Live video on Instagram stories itself, is getting so many people excited.

How-To

To go live, swipe right from the main feed to access the Stories camera.

1. There is now a new “Live” option down at the bottom, to the left of “Normal” and the recently-added “Boomerang” feature.
2. Once you select “Live,” Instagram will check your connection and count you down before starting the video.
3. The time limit on live videos is one hour, which is the same as Facebook Live. Periscope does not limit broadcasting to a certain time, though you do need to work within your battery and data constraints.
4. Once you’re live, you’ll see a feed of comments on the bottom left and, as you would on Facebook or Twitter’s Periscope, a stream of hearts from viewers.
5. While you stream live, you can reply to comments, pin comments you like, report abusive comments, see who’s viewing the stream, and hide certain users from viewing the rest of your stream. You can pinch to zoom in or out, but you can’t add drawings or text like you can in Stories.
6. Live video will only live in the moment and on Instagram. The app will only notify the subset of users who have opted in to notifications when you post. Those users will get a pop-up that says, ”[Username] has started a live video. Watch it before it ends!” Everyone else will see a small “LIVE” badge over your avatar in the Stories carousel at the top of their feed.

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Does Stealing Snapchatters work?

If you watch the promo video, this is clearly a play at Snapchat's GenZ audience, those under 21. It remains to be seen how viral the new Snapchat Spectacles become. As Facebook becomes less for personal sharing, Instagram is breaking the bank to try to make sure Snapchat doesn't become the future of social video.

Good to Know

1. Unlike on Facebook, live video on Instagram isn’t saved and can’t be watched retroactively
2. Instagram won’t generate a link to your live video that you can share to other platforms like Twitter or Facebook.
3.  Instagram’s operations team will review the footage after it has disappeared to make sure it did not violate the company’s standards.
4. The new live video feature will be rolling out globally to iOS and Android users slowly over the next few weeks.

If I’m trying to strengthen relationships with someone I love, them streaming video to me live would be an amazing way to be closer to them. - Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom

The way this plays with boosting Instagram Direct is also quite interesting (think group video), attempting to truly replace Snapchat while keeping you social within the Instagram app. One thing is for certain, in 2017, live streaming will just be normal.

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So that begs the question:

Would you use Live video on Instagram Stories? How can you see it being used by brands, influencers and for events?