Instagram’s Live Video Feature Is Now Available In The U.S.

American Instagram users can now launch broadcasts that disappear after a set period of time. The social media service has officially launched its live video service, and the new offering will be available to all United States-based ‘grammers in the coming days.

Instagram’s live video function runs through its Stories platform, which it launched back in August in an attempt to bring one of Snapchat’s most popular features to its audience. Stories users can now go live with a single swipe, at which point their followers will be notified about the current stream. Each broadcast is deleted upon its conclusion. “Your live video disappears as soon as you’re done recording, so you can feel comfortable sharing what you want, anytime,” an Instagram spokesperson told Adweek.

It is the temporary nature of Instagram’s live broadcasts that make them distinct. When Instagram first announced its plans to “go live,” I was curious to see how the company’s broadcasting platform would differ from that of its owner Facebook. After all, Mark Zuckerberg and co. have invested significant resources into their live video service, and it would have been a strange move for a Facebook subsidiary to actively compete with its parent company. Instead, the Snapchat-like nature of Instagram’s broadcasts bring something new to a mobile live streaming industry already saturated with eager startups.

For more information, check out the blog post Instagram shared back when it first announced its intentions to launch a live video platform