Facebook launches video on Instagram

Menlo Park, Calif. -- Facebook on Thursday announced the launch of a video feature for its photo-sharing app, Instagram. The new feature, which allows users to share video clips lasting up to 15 seconds, is seen as a direct shot at Twitter, which acquired short video start-up Vine last year.



Similar to photos, the Instagram videos will show up on a user's profile and will be available immediately on both Apple’s iOs platform and Google’s Android devices.



In announcing the launch, Instagram Chief Executive Kevin Systrom called the new app "everything we know and love about Instagram, but it moves."



And while online video is also seen as a powerful new way to deliver advertising, Systrom told reporters at the launch that the new feature wasn’t designed with advertising in mind, and that there are no immediate plans to offer advertising with the new video-sharing feature. (eMarketer has projected that U.S. advertisers will spend $4 billion on digital video ads this year, doubling to $8 billion by 2016.)