Now You Can Post Live Video On Instagram

Once you stop recording, the live video is gone for good. *Poof*

Instagram is the latest social platform to embrace live video, following Twitter, YouTube, and its parent company, Facebook. It's an attempt to make Instagram a place for both permanent and ephemeral sharing.

This is Instagram's latest attempt to drive more kinds of usage — beyond just posting highly-curated photos — by introducing features that focus on what’s happening in the moment. Live video is the second video product Instagram has launched this year. Stories, a string of Snapchat-style photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours, was announced in August.

It's also something Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom has previously hinted at. Earlier this month, Systrom told the Financial Times, “If I’m trying to strengthen relationships with someone I love, them streaming video to me live would be an amazing way to be closer to them.”

Last month, in an interview with BuzzFeed News, Systrom said, “I agree, the video format in our viewer does feel similar to what a lot of other people are doing. I think that’s fine for now, but it’s not where we want to end up. We want to innovate and improve the experience.”

Here’s how live video on Instagram works.

To go live, swipe right from the main feed to access the Stories camera.

Instagram won’t generate a link to your live video that you can share to other platforms like Twitter or Facebook.

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You can now send disappearing photos and videos privately, too.

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