Instagram is a great tool to keep track of your friends: You can see what they look like today, who they’re dating, what they’re eating, where they’re traveling and how adorable their pets and/or grandparents are. However, what Instagram is just OK at are videos. At least judging by the people I follow, I never watch videos all the way through. They tend to be of kinda crummy quality, especially concerts clips, and are never worth turning on headphones to listen to (full disclosure, I’m guilty of this). Plus, no one ever likes them as much as photos.
“So what?,” Instagram would presumably reply. According to the Verge, an update for the app that is rolling out today on iOS and Android will let users post videos that can be 60 seconds long. Since Instagram introduced videos in 2013, clips were limited to 15 seconds long. Two months ago, the app allowed advertisers to make their videos 60 seconds long, so, in a way, users now have the same Insta-rights as corporations. Hooray!
While Instagram reported in February that the time users spend watching videos has increased 40 percent over six months, will people have the attention span to stick with 60 second clips? Going from personal experience, probably not. But who knows!
Because 60 second videos on Instagram seem like opening up Pandora’s box of our worst social media impulses (guys, there’s YouTube and Facebook for that), I’ve decided to list seven things that you could spend that minute doing instead.
Reply to that email. Seriously, it’s been sitting in your inbox for a few days now, hit ’em back faster than they can write, “Just circling back on this.”
Listen to the first minute of the new Twin Peaks song.
Think of a better team name for your fantasy baseball team—Pamplemousse Lucroy? No. Go for Al Kaline Trio.
Do nothing at all.
Hide your politically obnoxious uncle on Facebook.
Watch this cat Vine 10 times in a row.
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