New Instagram video viewer takes a swipe at Snapchat and Twitter Moments

<img alt="Untitled-13" height="359" src="http://rack.0.mshcdn.com/media/ZgkyMDE1LzExLzAxLzdiL1VudGl0bGVkMTMuMjVmYzIuanBnCnAJdGh1bWIJOTUweDUzNCMKZQlqcGc/8cf5ac9e/85d/Untitled-13.jpg" width="640" /><br /> <br /> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> Instagram debuted a new feature in its Explore section on Halloween — one that seems to channel the best of Twitter Moments and Snapchat to create a rolling video stream.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> The feature, which can be found by swiping through the Explore Carousel invites the user to "Watch Halloween." After clicking the play button, a curated video roll appears. The videos feature filmmaker Zach King — who's popular on social media — pranking a trick-or-treater, model Heidi Klum getting ready for Halloween and Astronaut Scott Kelly acting creepy aboard the International Space Station.</div> <div class="see-also" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22.5px; text-transform: uppercase;"> <div class="inline-ad-seealso" style="margin: 0px 18.75px 0px auto; max-width: 625px;"> </div> </div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> Other spotlighted videos star the Obamas, singer John Mayer and celebrity chef Alton Brown. Celebrities aren't the only Instagram users highlighted by the new feature, which is also being promoted on the app's homepage.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> "This is a new way to experience events and big moments, as they happen, through the eyes of the Instagram community," Gabe Madway, an Instagram spokesperson, told <em>Mashable</em> in an email. "There’s a ton of great video on Instagram, and we wanted to bring it all into one viewing experience. People love to come together and celebrate big events on Instagram, so it makes a lot of sense to do this on Halloween, which is one of our biggest days."</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> Twitter has already taken a whack at packaging social media content around a single event with its Moments feature. While moments lets users do the packaging, the Instagram video viewer is being curated in realtime by Instagram's community team.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> Once each video clip is over, the next one automatically plays, but you can also swipe up to scroll through and then tap on the screen to start the roll again. The feature seemed to be increasing the likes for videos included in the curated roundup.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> The video viewer, which doesn't have a specific product name, is U.S. only for now, but Instagram expects "to roll it out more broadly for additional events in the future," Madway said, adding that the Halloween feature will be updated past midnight on Halloween.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> "People can continue to check back and see new content, as it happens," he said.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22.5px; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 0.75em;"> <em>Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.</em></div>

New Instagram video viewer takes a swipe at Snapchat and Twitter Moments

Instagram debuted a new feature in its Explore section on Halloween — one that seems to channel the best of Twitter Moments and Snapchat ...

Read more »