Just in time for Thanksgiving festivities, Instagram has added two big features that put them in direct competition with Periscope and Snapchat.
In a blog post Monday morning, Instagram announced the addition of live streaming to its Stories feature, and disappearing videos and photos for groups and friends. The latter is being presented as a “pressure-free” sharing option.
Putting itself up against parent company Facebook’s own live streaming feature, live video on Instagram Stories lets you stream for up to a hour for friends, but the video disappears once you’re finished. In other words, friends cannot watch later — it’s live or nothing. This is unlike Periscope and Facebook, which let you watch later.
Instagram notes that your followers may receive a notification letting you know you’re live, which should drive viewership (because who’s sitting in the Instagram app waiting for someone to start streaming?).
The second feature is disappearing photos and videos, which are built into Instagram Direct. Just like Snapchat, the photos and videos will disappear after they’re viewed, and the app will notify you if your friends replay or screenshot them.
The biggest difference from Snapchat is that Instagram lets you create groups, which makes it easy to send snaps photos to the same people every time.
The following video gives you a sense of the new feature in action. Instagram is really pushing the whole “this is for bad selfies” idea:
Disappearing photos roll out beginning today, November 21. Live video will be added “over the next few weeks.”