Photos and videos that disappear, made popular by Snapchat have now been made more simple within Instagram’s direct messaging service. This can well be considered as further consolidation of the vanishing Stories feature that Facebook began to implement in its subsidiary applications, including the parent app as well.
With the latest update that bumps the version number to 10.16 for Instagram Direct, users will now be able to attach a photo or video that vanishes after a while to any message thread. The update is being meted out to the iOS and Android versions of the app and introduced a new camera icon in blue to add the image or video samples. You will have to swipe left to access the direct message feature and launch the camera.
Then, of course, there also is the provision to spruce up your video or picture messages with a myriad of filters and effects. With Instagram being more about images, it is also but natural for a plethora of ways you can enhance the quality of your image as well, should you so desire before sending out to your friends or associates. Instagram allows you to send your direct messages up to a maximum of 15 recipients at one go.
Instagram, meanwhile also released figures to support its Stories feature has turned out to be more popular than Snapchat. According to Instagram, daily usage of the Stories feature has now surpassed the 200 million mark. That is impressive considering that it has just been eight months that the feature was introduced to Instagram.
In contrast, Snapchat during its IPO filing had revealed the Stories feature that it had pioneered is used by 158 million users on average. Sure those figures were from February, which means it might well have swelled up since then. That said, there is no surety if it too has made it past the 200 million users figure.
Investors keen to pick up stake in Snapchat then had expressed concern about the manner rival picked up on Snapchat’s signature features with ease. What remains to be seen is how the firm responds to the scenario now that Facebook with its huge user base is eager to hunt on what used to be Snapchat’s exclusive turf.
