On June 20, there was a presentation of Instagram in San Francisco, at which a completely new product for this platform was presented - IGTV. It was created to become the new "youth television".
What is IGTV
IGTV is a fundamentally new, separate application from the developers of the photo and video platform Instagram. It is planned that with the help of it, content makers from all over the world will be able to diversify their work with full-fledged videos, and, therefore, attract a new audience to their channel. The key difference from Instagram is the length of the video: you can create recordings up to 60 minutes long, while on Instagram this time was limited to only 60 seconds. In the future, it is planned to completely remove the time limit. Another important feature that qualitatively distinguishes the IGTV application from other video hosting sites, for example, from YouTube, is the ability to download and watch videos in the usual position for a smartphone - only vertically. Thus, the new product from Instagram is aimed exclusively at mobile use.
The platform is intended both for users filming professional content and for amateurs. Moreover, it is on the latter that IGTV is betting: after all, the overwhelming majority of the young audience prefers amateur content.
How to use IGTV
You can open IGTV either through the Instagram social network application by clicking on the upper right icon on the home screen, or by downloading a separate application from the Play Store (for Android) or the App Store (for iOS). As conceived by the developers, the principles of this service should be very similar to television: as soon as you open IGTV, the video starts playing immediately. The switching time between videos fills the white noise typical for TV channels for a few seconds. On the main page, you can find the search bar and the following tabs:
- "For you". A feed of videos recommended specifically for your account. At first, the content in this tab is unlikely to completely suit you, because the application takes time to adapt to your tastes.
- "Subscriptions". The IGTV app syncs with your Instagram account, so in this feed you can see videos of users you follow both in the new app and on Instagram.
- Popular. Perhaps this tab is available on almost all photo and video platforms - this is the most viewed content in recent years.
- "Look beyond". If you watched the video, but closed it, in this feed you can continue watching from the second where you left off.
Like Instagram, users can like it, leave comments, and share videos with friends on direct.
