Given the recent plummet of FAANG stocks and the bearish disposition of the equities market, Instagram (NASDAQ: FB) has made a bold move to stay relevant by launching a 4-way video calling feature. The new video capability lets users make group video calls and browse the app via Instagram DM. The feature is compatible with both iOS and Android.
Instagram hopes to become a one-stop-shop for its 1 billion users' social needs via feed, stories, messaging, Live, IGTV, and now video calling. This increased functionality over the past two years is paying off. SimilarWeb estimates that the average American Instagram user has gone from spending 29 minutes per day on the app in September 2017 to 55 minutes today. More time spent means more potential ad views and revenue for the Facebook subsidiary, which a Bloomberg analyst recently valued at $100 billion - a huge increase from its sale price of $1 billion in 2012.
One of the most attractive things about the new feature is that users can minimize the window and bounce around the rest of Instagram without ending the call. That means users can co-browse with friends as if everyone were hanging out in person together. More friends can join an Instagram call in progress, though they can be muted if the user doesn't want to get more call invites. Users are allowed to call anyone they can direct message by hitting the video button in a chat. Blocked people can't call back.
Instagram is also rolling out two more features as promised at F8. The Explore page will now be broken up to show a variety of topic channels that reveal associated content below. Before this update, Explore's 200 million daily users just saw a random mish-mash of popular content related to their interests, with just a single "Videos You Might Like" section separated.BNow users will see a horizontal array of channels on top of Explore, including an algorithmically personalized "For You " collection, plus categories like Art, Beauty, Sports, and Fashion, depending on what content you regularly interact with. Users can swipe between the sections to browse, and then scroll up to view more posts from any they enjoy. A list of sub-hashtags appears when you open a category, like #MoGraph (motion graphics) or #Typeface when you open art. And if you're sick of seeing a category, you can mute it. Strangely, Instagram has stripped Stories out of Explore entirely, though when asked, the team said it plans to bring Stories back in the near future.
Instagram is also coming out with camera effects designed by partners, including Ariana Grande, BuzzFeed, Liz Koshy, Baby Ariel, and the NBA. This opens the door to accounts all offering their own augmented reality and 2D filters without the Stories camera becoming overstuffed with lenses that are somewhat irrelevant. It also gives Snapchat a run for its money, as this is the entire basis upon which the latter was built.