Photo-messaging platform Instagram is likely to unveil a platform for longer-form videos featuring scripted shows, music videos and more in vertically oriented, full-screen, high-definition 4K resolution.
"Instagram has been meeting with popular social media stars and content publishers to find out how their video channels elsewhere would work within its app. It is also lining up launch partners for an announcement of the long-form video effort tentatively scheduled for June 20," TechCrunch reported late on Wednesday.
The new feature could support videos ranging from five to 15 minutes in length, thus, allowing average users to upload longer videos beyond the current 60-second limit.
Each video will feature a swipe-up option to open a link which creators can use to drive traffic to their websites, e-commerce stores or event ticketing to help small businesses flourish on the Facebook-owned platform.
The long-form video section is expected to highlight a collection of popular videos and provide a "continue watching" option to allow users view long clips over the course of several sessions.
However, creators would not be able to shoot and post long-form videos, as the section will only allow pre-made videos to be uploaded.
"It's unclear what the new video feature will be named, or where it will appear. It could possibly be live in the 'Explore' tab or get its own tab or even be spun out into a separate app," TechCrunch added.
In related news, Instagram also added a new feature to Stories where you can repost a friend’s story if they have mentioned you in it. The feature is called @mention Sharing and is initiated when you tag a user in your story, according to a Verge report. When you tag someone in your Story, a pop-up saying “Mentioned users may repost this story for 24 hours” will appear and as usual, the mentioned person will receive a notification via direct message but the difference will be that there will be a link saying ‘Add this to your story’.