Instagram nixes Square format for Video and Images - Why Bulk Uploading for Advertisers coming by Black Friday

Great news for all you Instagrammers out there!!! Instagram has decided it's not cool to be a square!

As of Thursday August 27^th 2015, Instagram has relaxed their rule on photo uploads being in a square format as reported in the article “Instagram images no longer all square”, published 28 August 2015, BBC News.

They declared their love for change in an Instagram blog post aptly entitled “Thinking Outside the Square: Support for Landscape and Portrait Formats on Instagram”.

Many users who live on Instagram can rejoice, as they no longer need to use third-party apps such as InstaFit to crop or adjust their photos to Instagram’s square golden rule as noted in the article “Instagram Goes Rectangular”, published 27 August 2015 by Cat ZakrZeweski, Wall Street Journal.

This change not only applies to images but to videos as well, which will no longer need to be clipped at the ends, but shown in all their glory, be it 4:3, 16:9 or 21:9 aspect ratio as noted in “Instagram Isn't Only Square Photos Anymore”, published 8/27/15 by Alissa Walker, Gizmodo. 

This doesn’t mean the clean feel of your Instagram feed will be disrupted; you' still see previews of your images in the usual centered square format. The difference will be noticeable when you click on the images and it expands into its original uploaded format.

Now you can upload photos in either Portrait or landscape modes, a win for many who've complained over the years over this rather silly restriction on creative freedom. Or is it more a case of appealing to advertisers and the potential of increased commerce by Christmas?

Instagram changes Square format for Video and Images - How Instagram's change pleases advertisers and users alike

Alas, it's really about commerce.

Advertisers are interested in throwing more money at Facebook owned Instagram to do advertising as per a previous Instagram blog post in June 2015 entitled 

 “The Next Steps for Ads on Instagram: New Formats, Increased Relevance, Broader Availability”

Makes sense, being as they're clocking some 300 million Active Monthly users back in December 2014 as reported in my blog article entitled “Instagram's 300 Million Active Monthly Users – Teenagers and Millennials Selfie Trend boosts Facebook's Advertising Revenue while Chasing Pinterest and Tumblr”.

The pressure to please advertisers must have been very hard to resist. Still, I'm glad that this'll be benefitting both advertisers and users alike albeit I'm far from being pleased. 

Instagram still has no API that allows you to upload pictures in bulk either from your smartphone or on your desktop. My gut feeling tells me that this is what this change from being a square is really all about!

Instagram and Bulk Image and Video Uploading - Why pleasing Advertisers by Black Friday means Bulk Uploading is coming

Personally, dear reader, I think Instagram plans to introduce bulk Uploading by Black Friday in November 2015, just in time for Christmas!

Back in March 2015, a young developer named Caleb Benn had developed a US$4.99 App called Uploader for Instagram.

This App allows Apple Mac users to upload images from their Apple Mac desktop to their Instagram account without having to install BlueStacks as noted in the article “Post photos from your Mac with Uploader for Instagram”, published March 23, 2015 by Matt Elliott, CNET News.

However, Instagram wasn't having any of that and by April 2015 declared that his company, Anobot LLC, had to remove the App as making modifications to their API was illegal.

Good thing he's stayed under the radar, making his app available only to Apple Mac users via their Mac App Store; he’s already made US$6000 before he was asked to shut it down as reported in the article Teen rakes in $6,000 on “Uploader for Instagram app, told to shut down [Updated]”, published Apr 4, 2015 by Cyrus Farivar, Ars Technica.

Since then I've not heard of a replacement for the Uploader for Instagram from Instagram. Even stranger is that fact that copycat Apps such as Up – Uploader for Instagram have appeared on the Mac App Store!

But with advertisers possibly wanting to use Instagram as a storefront, requiring the bulk uploading of images, an API for a Bulk Image and Video Upload must be in the works.

Instagram Change a precursor to Bulk Uploading – Get Ready for Instagram Shopping

This change from square to anything-goes uploading may actually be a necessary precursor to test out how advertisers and users react before rolling out bulk uploading built into Instagram straight from your Apple Mac, Windows phone or Camera roll on your smartphone.

I personally think this’ll occur and I’ve already added “Instagram” to my Google alerts as explained in my Geezam blog article entitled “Google Alerts Diamond in the Rough coming to Google+ to deliver Technology News”.

I suspect Instagram Shopping online, possibly structured similarly to Pinterest’s Buy Buttons and “Buyable Pins” for advertisers as described in my blog article entitled “Pinterest launches Buy Button - Why @Pinterest “Buyable Pins” will work thanks to Confessions of a Shopaholic” may be coming by November 2015, just in time for Black Friday and the Christmas Holiday!!

Here’s the link:

Thinking Outside the Square: Support for Landscape and Portrait Formats on Instagram

The Next Steps for Ads on Instagram: New Formats, Increased Relevance, Broader Availability