Instagram Finally Allows Users To Shoot In Landscape Mode

Online mobile photo-sharing Instagram has recently received a major overhaul. With an aim to grab the eyeballs of advertisers, Instagram now brings new layout options. Users can now post their favourite images in landscape mode too. Interestingly, this change happens to be the first major update since its acquisition by Facebook.

Instagram users will no longer be constrained to square mold. This feature was introduced after it analysed that almost 20 per cent of the posted photos and videos are not originally in square format. Also, one in five photos does not really fit the given format.

“It boils down to giving advertisers and users more options. You want people to be able to see more of your ad. It’s something advertisers are definitely going to be interested in,” announced Debra Aho Williamson, a social media advertising analyst.

In the meantime, Instagram wrote in a blog post,”Friends get cut out of group shots, the subject of your video feels cramped and you can’t capture the Golden Gate Bridge from end to end.”

The move would help Instagram to compete with its rival Snapchat. Also, it is expected to boost its advertising revenue by offering a new platform to advertisers so that they could showcase their products and services. According to the reports, the feature has been launched for Android as well as iPhone operating system (iOS) devices.

Meanwhile, Walt Disney Co has launched the preview of its forthcoming film, Star Wars, The Force Awakens, using the new landscape mode.