Instagram steps up Snapchat rivalry with live streaming service and disappearing messages
Instagram’s new live-video streaming feature allows you to broadcast to friends and followers, and it’s also pioneering messages that disappear – services that compete with rivals like Snapchat
Instagram is joining the live-video streaming game, stepping up its rivalry with Snapchat.
Similar to Facebook’s popular Facebook Live feature, it’s relatively easy to start a broadcast: just tap the camera icon and swipe over to the “live” tab and click the “start Live video” button. As with a Facebook Live video, an indicator at the top of your screen will signal that you’re broadcasting and provide an indication of the number of people tuning in. Users can comment and “heart”, or like, your videos as well.
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Those who follow you and interact with you on the service will see a notification that you are live, just as they would on Facebook.
Unlike Facebook Live, however, Facebook-owned Instagram will delete the videos from your story once the broadcast is over – a feature that makes it more like rival Snapchat than its parent.
Instagram Live has been added as part of an update to Instagram Stories, Instagram’s take on Snapchat’s popular feature that lets users share photos and videos publicly to all of their followers. The company has also added an “Explore” tab so that its 500 million users can view other live videos on the service. In a blog post announcing the update, the company said more than 100 million people use Stories.
