Facebook's Instagram has added video to its photo sharing platform, giving users the ability capture and share 15-second videos.
The move will put Instagram, which was acquired by Facebook last year for around $1 billion, in direct competition with Twitter's short video-sharing platform, Vine.
Besides expanding Instagram's popular photo service, the video features have obvious applications in the promotion of TV shows and movies and for news organizations, which have been expanding their presence on Instagram.
Currently, Instagram has around 130 million monthly users, who have shared 16 billion photos.
The move was announced during a press conference on June 20 at Facebook's headquarters and in a blog by Kevin Systrom, co-founder of Instagram.
"Over the past two and a half years, Instagram has become a community where you can capture and share the world's moments simply and beautifully," the blog explained. "Some moments, however, need more than a static image to come to life. Until now these stories have been missing from Instagram. "Today, we're thrilled to introduce Video on Instagram and bring you another way to share your stories. When you go to take a photo on Instagram, you'll now see a movie camera icon. Tap it to enter video mode, where you can take up to fifteen seconds of video through the Instagram camera."
Instagram for iOS version 4.0 with the video features is currently available for download in Apple's App Store while Instagram for Android version 4.0 is now available on Google Play.
