Why Instagram wants to be your news source of choice
Instagram is revamping some of its key functions to make it easier for users to find real-time, news-like photos and videos.
The photo-sharing app shared details of the makeover on its blog on Tuesday: a reimagined Explore page, available in the US, will feature trending events, places and hashtags, whilst a more powerful search tool will allow all users to search for content by place, in addition to the current options of people and hashtags.
Instagram CEO and cofounder Kevin Systrom told The Wall Street Journal that the changes will cater to users that want to see and experience world events for themselves, as they happen.
“All of us in social media and regular media, we’re all competing for the same thing, which is this gap between something happening in the world and you knowing about it,” he said.
The announcement comes just a week after the influential Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2015 found that video and other visual content are one of the main trends changing the way news is being created and consumed.
According to the report, which surveyed more than 20,000 people across 12 countries, 23% now access online news video on a weekly basis. This is up five percentage points from 2014.
There has also been an increase in the consumption of ‘In pictures’ style image galleries. 21% had looked at a gallery of pictures about news in the week they were surveyed, up from 17% last year.
Instagram isn’t the only social media platform looking to expand beyond its core to provide more news-like, real-time content.
In May, Snapchat announced it was hiring an editorial team to cover the US 2016 presidential election. The team will use user-generated content as well as their own ‘snaps’ to collate stories from the campaign trail.
Instagram owner Facebook has also invested in news. Rather than using user-generated content, it has rolled out Instant Articles, a service that lets users load and read news articles directly on Facebook. Several leading media brands from The Guardian to National Geographic have already signed up to make their editorial content available.
According to one commentator, Facebook’s strategy is likely to be based on the holy trinity of happier users, more in-app minutes and, consequently, a stronger advertising offer.
The same reasoning is likely to be behind Instagram’s new model, news of which was preceded earlier this month by the announcement that the feed would be open to all advertisers.
Video and photos are no longer just for holiday snaps and selfies; people want news and real-time updates in that format too.
If there’s a trend, why not monetise it?
This blog first appeared on mhpc.com