Instagram has video! And, besides #hashtags on Facebook and MySpace deleting all our poetry from the mid to late '90s, it's the worst thing to ever happen to social media. Kidding (kinda), but more on that in a second.
Before Instagram got all Vine-y on us, filmmakers Paul Cummings and Erig Wities (collectively, Friends in Faux) set out to create "an animation or video taking place in the Instagram world." And they certainly succeeded.
Using 1,556 photographs (view them all here), the guys spent three weeks creating this stop-motion animated adventure. It's gone viral too, which officially means it was a productive use of three weeks.
But back to Video on Instagram: Yesterday, the app announced that users could now upload up to 15 seconds of footage and add one of a selection of new filters with names like "Dogpatch" and "Moon."
For those keeping score, that's nine seconds longer than Vine offers.
It's also, according to some Instagram loyalists, 14 seconds longer than need be. We definitely don't need anymore 15-second selfies though. The original excitement of Instagram video is over, so if you missed the window to post your "OMG! Instagram has video now! [sticks out tongue then makes a kissy face]" video, sorry ‘bout it.
For the sake of social media peace, here is a list of times it is appropriate to use Instagram video:
Otherwise, just stick with photos. Or take it to Vine.