Raise your hand if you're excited about Instagram TV.
(music playing)
I love vertical video.
Welcome to psych irl.
My name is Donna and let's talk about Instagram TV.
After reaching 1 billion active users, on June 20th, 2018 Instagram announced their
latest feature, Instagram TV.
What exactly is Instagram TV?
In short, it’s a way to watch long form vertical videos (up to one hour long) on your
phone. It's simple.
If you already have an Instagram account, you don’t need to worry about a thing.
You’ll be notified when one of your favorite creators uploads a video and you can watch
it natively on the instagram app.
However if you want to be a creator, you’ll need to download the Instagram TV app.
Many have called this new feature YouTube’s biggest competition, and with good reason.
So youtube isn't the first video platform on the internet, but it can be argued that
it's one of the biggest.
So, naturally people are going to compare instagram tv to youtube.
To add even more fuel to the fire to why the two are being compared, at a San Francisco
press conference held by Instagram, Instagram didn't mention Youtube's name at all, but
it was clear who instagram's criticisms were directed at.
Today we still watch videos formatted for a TV on a vertical screen, which means we
either have to rotate our phone awkwardly or watch a tiny little version and that doesn't
make much sense does it?
Current apps make you search or browse a directory to find things you like.
When was the last time you had to turn on a TV and then had to type in a search just
to start watching and even once you know what to watch, the results can be really overwhelming.
How can you find all the good stuff?
So in summation what differentiates, IGTV from other video platforms is that it’s
specifically built for how you use your phone.
It also wants to make the search for finding good content easier by showing you videos
from creators you already follow, and creators you may like based on the patterns of your
interests.
Second, Instagram or Facebook aka Mark Zuckerberg (because Facebook owns Instagram) is notorious
for copying tech companies.
In August of 2016, Instagram launched a feature called stories which is virtually identical
to Snapchat stories.
Though Snapchat still thrives, its growth has slowed down while Instagram’s has risen
ever since the release of the new feature.
And In November of 2016, the company released a live video feature imitating the features
of periscope which is now owned by Twitter.
So, will history repeat itself and will this feature be the cause of YouTube’s growth
declining?
In my opinion, probably not.
There are a couple things that make video platforms in terms of social media successful.
Feedback and uniqueness.
Feedback is essential for any social media platform to thrive.
Though many of us say, it’s not about the likes or the comments.
It’s exactly about the likes and comments.
Every notification from a like on our photo sends a spike of dopamine to our brains.
Because of that, we’re encouraged to do it all over again.
See what our friends are posting.
Post something of our own.
Get likes.
Repeat.
Instant social interaction.
Instant gratification.
Both YouTube and Instagram receive 5 stars for this one.
Uniqueness is one of the most important factors in how a video platform rises.
Vine for example set the parameters for creators to only post videos that were 7 seconds long.
At face value, that sounds like a terrible idea.
But because of those parameters creators were forced to tell a narrative within 7 seconds,
and this resulted in an abundance of creativity.
There is only one thing worse than a Rap...boom.
A child.
NO.
Musically...well you know.
Even though a lot of unique video platforms have popped up over the years, none have really
come close to threatening YouTube.
These unique platforms have served as just another type of video platform, and not really
a YouTube replacement.
This is how I see Instagram TV.
A better analogy would be comparing them to Fast Food.
YouTube is like McDonalds and Instagram TV is like Taco Bell.
Sometimes, you feel like a burger and sometimes you feel like a taco.
People don’t always crave one food forever.
A YouTube competitor would be like Burger King.
Two platforms fighting for your attention when you have your burger craving.
What makes YouTube so special and so unique is that it's integrated with Google.
It's a search engine.
When was the last time you searched something on Bing or Yahoo?
When you look up things like "how to tie a tie", you can find the text version on Google
and you can probably find video tutorial version on YouTube.
But YouTube is not without any flaws.
There are many critiques its user base have of it.
The first is that it prioritizes advertisers instead of creators and therefore the platform
is censored due to the fact that YouTube will demonetize or remove content that isn’t
advertiser friendly.
The basic thesis of the video is that youtube doesn't do enough to support their community,
that is creators on the platform.
Another critique is that the algorithm is horrible.
A lot of creators and viewers feel like they don’t have control over some areas of YouTube
such as notifications not working, the subscription area not working, and it all feels like an
algorithm is in control of what users see.
They're finally taking sub feed.
It was the last thing we had, the last sacred place youtube had that wasn't optimized.
Unfortunately Instagram TV doesn't resolve any of the issues people who are usually critical
of youtube list.
In terms of advertising and censorship, instagram will probably be just as strict because they
want more dollars on their platform.
In fact how they monetize right now is kind of unclear.
creators can monetize if they’re part of a select group that Instagram chooses.
Basically people who can drive traffic onto the platform.
You can also monetize through sponsored posts and affiliate links, like on YouTube.
In terms of the algorithm, it's more reliant on the algorithm so you have even less control.
It's like flipping through a TV, but what channels you see next are determined by what
you've liked in the past and maybe the patterns of your friends.
Will that change in the future?
Perhaps, but for now search is very limited.
So now the biggest question is, does Instagram’s uniqueness of high quality, long form, vertical
video have enough of a novelty to make it big?
Alright let's review some content on here.
Books cool.
Simple Soaked Crushing.
Quality.
See I think these videos are what instagram tv is good for.
These talking head videos because there's not much movement.
For the vlog videos, I can't really see it happening because vlogs are so dynamic and
there's always something going on and it's better with wide screen but with this, I think
this is what Instagram TV is meant for.
Cheating the system here.
I actually think Instagram TV is not good for sports videos because as you can see when
he's throwing the ball you don't know how far he's throwing or when he's catching the
ball you don't know how far that ball is coming from.
The action doesn't feel as engaging as a horizontal video.
Just my opinion.
I'm not sure what I've watched or what photos I've liked to make instagram think that this
is the kind of content I like.
Music could be another thing that this is good for, so I like this a lot.
ok.
Another horizontal video that just...Fashion Nova?
So now to sum up my final thoughts.
I have bullet points here so that's why I'm looking down.
So, this isn't the new platform that will save some creators from demonetization.
In my opinion it's even more selective.
In YouTube where it's clear and you need a certain amount of subscribers or a certain
amount of followers, with this it's instagram who selects who is monetized.
Will that change in the future?
Perhaps.
My second point is that vertical video is great for short updates.
That's why I like Instagram stories so much.
It's like a Twitter for video and photo.
I like it because you don't have to flip your phone horizontally.
It's just your friends videos or photos vertically and you just swipe through them, but i don't
know if I can watch an hour long video of that especially if the video is something
dynamic like a vlog or a sports thing.
I don't know if I can watch that.
If it was a talking head thing just like this, then that yes is something I can watch but
something that can really change the game for this is if they do something like vine.
People were able to create something creative out of 7 seconds.
With this, I think what can make this really succeed is if people find a way to shoot something
that only vertical video can give you, something that can't be given with the horizontal standard
way of video.
What that is though?
I don't know.
That's the end of the video.
So, what do you think about instagram tv?
Do you like it?
Do you hate it?
Have you already started uploading content on it?
That's the end of the video...okay I already said that.
Stay psyched.