May 1, 2018 marked a new beginning in the history of social media. On this day, Facebook announced several attractive features for Instagram. One such feature was the group video chat update that has now been rolled out on both Android and iOS systems. This comes at the wake of Instagram’s newest launch, the IGTV app that helps you create and view videos as long as an hour. Along with the video group chatting feature, the other updates that had been announced at the Facebook annual F8 conference a month ago have been all launched now.
Instagram notes,
More than 100 million Instagrammers watch or share on Live every day. But we’ve heard from our community that sometimes they also want to experience real-time video in a smaller group. In the coming weeks, we’ll bring video chat to Instagram and give friends a new way to spend time together — even when they aren’t actually together.
How to Use the Video Group Chat Feature
A group of upto four people can join the video chat through the Instagram Direct tab, while also scrolling through their feed and checking the regular image posts on Instagram without the call being interrupted. This means that you can share screens and browse feeds together. You also have the freedom to mute or block anyone you don’t wish to interact with. Having said this, you can chat with people available only on your Direct thread. Like Whatsapp video, Skype or Facetime, on Instagram too, it depends on the other person’s response on your video call.
The popular app has come a full circle starting with photos, stories, feeds, Insta messages, Insta Live, long-format videos on IGTV and now the Video group chatting feature, AR filters and New Design of Explore Page.
Begin a video chat just by clicking on the new camera icon on top of your DM thread. Whether you choose to go one-on-one or invite a group of other friends on the video call, you can stream the call for as long as you want. Minimize the video chat and continue to scroll through the photo-sharing app.
Recent reports suggest that 32% of Instagrammers check the app multiple times a day and 51% open the app daily. According to Instagram, an average of 95 million photos and videos are shared per day on the app.
Now that a billion people worldwide are using Instagram (as claimed by CEO Kevin Systrom during the launch of IGTV on June 20, 2018), it seems that the addition of video calling and messaging will increase the time that the average user is likely to spend glued on the Instagram screen.
Make this feature a part of your brand communication as this can allow you to get on a video call with your customers – either make a one-on-one video call or get on group chatting to help them understand your business products and services.
Login with Google