Last week, Facebook sent out invitations to a mystery press event. The invites themselves offered no indication as what attendees could expect. Instead, they merely stated that a small team at Facebook had been working on something big and they wanted to show it off. On Monday, word got out that Facebook might be looking to beef up Instagram with a video option. Of course, the company didn't confirm or deny any of these rumors (after all, what's the point in planning a mystery event if you're going to spill the beans early), but it looks like those reports were bang on the money.
Facebook today unveiled a new Vine-like video feature for its photo sharing service, Instagram. Unlike Vine, which affords users a puny six-second time limit, Instagram's limit for videos will be 15 seconds. And, yes, you can filter the crap out of your videos before you post them. Instagram users will now see a button with a little video camera when they go to take a photo. Selecting this option will bring you to video mode and allows you to shoot 15 seconds of footage. You'll then be given a choice of 13 filters (if that's your bag) and the ability to choose the frame that will be on display when the video isn't playing.
The new video feature is including in Instagram 4.0 for iOS and Android, both of which are available now via iTunes and the Play Store.
