instagram logo animation

The Social Short 2020: Week 3

Instagram Adds New Boomerang Modes 

Instagram has added some new options to its Boomerang camera mode for Stories; ‘SloMo’, ‘Echo’ and ‘Duo’. These new modes are available in the latest version of the Instagram app and had already been reported by reverse engineering expert Jane Manchun Wong.

Instagram will now also let users ‘trim and tweak’ their Boomerang loops as seen below.

 

Instagram Creators Building Massive Audiences From Viral AR Effects

If you haven’t been using the ‘Which Disney Character Are You?’ or ‘2020 Predictions’ Instagram stories effects, you’ve probably been living under a rock. Created in Facebook’s Spark AR Studio, these AR filters have seen a significant rise lately, with many celebrities jumping on the trend and trying out the features (see below), leading to some of them going viral. So viral in fact, that creators have gone from being relatively unknown to having thousands of followers.

The creator of the ‘Which Disney Character Are You?’ effect now has a 620k following as a result of the filter’s popularity. Is this only the beginning?

 

 

Netflix Gets The Most Oscar Nods Of Any Studio, Including Best Picture For The ‘Irishman’ And ‘Marriage Story’

Netflix’s done it again!

After last year’s ’Roma’, which received 10 nominations and won three, including Best Director, Netflix will now be heading to the Oscars with 24 nominations, more than any other Hollywood studio. ‘The Irishman’ received 10 nominations, only one less than ‘Joker’, the most nominated film, and ‘Marriage Story’, another one of the Netflix’s nominated films, received six. ‘The Two Popes’, ‘I Lost My Body’ and ‘Klaus’ are also among the nominated.

Earlier in the year, it was reported that director Steven Spielberg was leading a campaign that would have required Netflix and other streaming platforms to keep their films exclusively in cinemas for at least four weeks in order to be eligible for the Academy Awards. This ‘petition’ did not receive enough support and no actions were taken, but it does go to show that there still exists a certain industry skepticism when it comes to streaming.

It now remains to be seen who will take home an award. The ceremony won’t take place until February 10th.

 

Disney+ Was The Most Downloaded App In The US In Q4 2019

Speaking of streaming, Disney + was the most downloaded app in the US during the last quarter of 2019. US consumers have shown strong interest in the family-friendly streaming service, in fact, after the app’s mid-November launch, it was downloaded over 30 million times in Q4 2019, doubling TikTok, the nearest competitor.  
This data accounts for both the Apple App Store and Google Play. On the App Store, Disney+ beat out YouTube, which had held the top position for the past four quarters.