Ten years ago, if you asked yourself “will live streaming be available in the palm of our hands from anywhere in the world?” you might have thought yourself crazy. Well, now all it takes is a simple button press in your app of choice. And now you have another live streaming app to choose: Instagram, if you couldn’t tell from the title.
Following Facebook, Youtube and Periscope, Instagram users (only those in the United States at the moment, an important distinction to make) can now stream up to one hour of live video at a time, and like those previously listed services, Instagram users can like the stream in the form of giving out hearts as well as live commenting.
Instagram flipped the switch today, and users will find the option to stream live from the camera section of the app, which can be accessed by swiping to the right. The app will notify your Instagram friends by displaying a “LIVE” notice on your account, as well as sending out alerts and showing up in the Stories menu.
Instagram rolling out Live Streaming is the next step in the app’s quest to keep parity with the other app giants. After updating the app with a Stories section, much in the vein of Snapchat’s popular offering, Instagram is looking to become the one-stop app for all your social needs.
At the moment there are no confirmed dates for the live streaming ability to be released to Instagram users outside of the United States, but seeing as this is a highly requested feature, you can be all but guaranteed to see Instagram rolling out the update in waves across the world. Live streaming takes quite the toll, so look at this as more of a beta test to see how the app can hold up to the mass of users streaming at once.
Flickr/Jason A. Howie