Instagram Introduces New Video Loop Feature

Here’s a new feature that many Instagram users and advertisers will be excited about. Instagram is following in the footsteps of its competitor Vine by introducing a looping feature for video.

The looping feature will play Instgram videos in a loop continuously as users scroll through their Instagram feeds. While this particular update will remove the ability to pause videos, users will be able to tap videos to turn the sound on and off. For advertisers, the looping feature will prove to be huge asset to grab the attention of Instagram’s 300 million monthly users. The feature will ensure that users watch all the videos in their feed, including those video ads. For users themselves, it will prove to be a useful feature that will remove the need to press play multiple times to watch a posted video.

Here’s an example created by Oreo:

The Trend of Auto-Playing Video

Auto-playing video seems to be the norm for most social networks nowadays, with the exception of Twitter and Pinterest. While Instagram is known for posting photos, this update from Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, shows that the image-based social network wants to be the place to upload and share videos.

It was nearly two years ago when Instagram first introduced the ability to post 15-second video clips on the site. Late last summer, Instagram followed-up with a separate product that allows users to make hyperlapse videos. Hyperlapse allows users to speed up videos from a 1x (slow speed) to a 12x speed (super fast). The hyperlapse effect creates a beautiful, professional look and feel to videos posted on the site.

Have you incorporated Instagram video to your content marketing strategy yet?