Vinstagram? How a Vine-like feature on Instagram could change Facebook

Anyone who loves the Vine app for Twitter knows two things – it can be a lot of fun and it’s a shame it shows up as a link on Facebook rather than a video.

This could change if Techcrunch is correct about their report that Facebook is adding a Vine-like video feature to Instagram on June 20th.

We are still looking for more information because we understand that Facebook has not wanted the details of June 20 to leak out — so this could be an intentional blind alley. But if the Instagram video report is true, you could say the event invite itself — sent by snail mail, coffee cup stain charmingly in one corner — is a red herring of its own.

The Facebook feed itself will change for many, especially those who have “hip” friends. Videos aren’t as common on Facebook as pictures. While a video Instagram component wouldn’t change this much, it would encourage more people to capture short clips of the moments in their lives more efficiently than today. There will likely be editing features just as there are for images on Instagram. This alone will be enough to get the interest levels up.

There are plenty of apps that do this already, but the fact that Facebook owns Instagram combined with the wild popularity of the app will make it more successful than the third party competitors. What does this mean for Viddy, Cinemagram, and Socialcam (which have all been called “Instagram for video” at one time or another)? It may be time to make adjustments. They won’t be able to compete.