Instagram is officially allowing everyone around the world to watch and comment on Live videos from their desktop after first launching it as a test, and it’s also now testing a button that allows people to upload their finished live streams directly to IGTV, reports The Verge.
Live videos typically expire after 24 hours, and people have struggled to make them available after filming ends. Although there’s always been a way to save your content, most people haven’t uploaded it to IGTV or elsewhere. The button could make uploading to IGTV an easy option, which would not only benefit viewers who missed a Live but also help Instagram-build IGTV content.
Instagram has launched its ‘Live’ feature back in 2016. Now, due to the pandemic Instagram build IGTV into a more formidable longform content competitor to YouTube. The company says Live usage is up over 70 per cent in the US, so it’s rolling out a couple of new features to make watching and saving the content easier.
The company’s continued to focus on IGTV. It just updated its standalone IGTV app to better promote creators, and it also gave people the ability to tease their IGTV content in their stories. That update suggests that Instagram is taking this pandemic time, when people are stuck inside and watching content, to bulk up and better promote IGTV.
The mobile Instagram Live experience has comments scrolling up through a transparent window at the bottom of the video. Instagram recently rolled out a feature where people can send direct messages from their web browser globally.