cityscape photo (Photo : Reuters)
Instagram, the social media company specializing in photo and video sharing, has racked up 300 million users based on the golden rule that every image and clip should have a square shape. However, the Facebook company is now dropping that policy and allowing portraits and landscapes, perhaps to boost its ad revenue.
Instagram will now allow the new options for photos and videos. Its objective might be to boost the company's video advertisements.
The tech company posted a blog post that the policy change was made to benefit its users. It highlighted the importance of the square photo format, but claimed the top priority should be telling a visual story.
Instagram explained that almost 20 percent of all photos and videos shared on the social network are not square in shape. This results in people cut out of group photos, and subjects getting crowded in videos.
The company explained that it is "excited" about the widescreen videos now available. TV ads can also be more easily reformatted.
Instagram's first video ads appeared during October 2014, according to The Guardian. Since then it has added various features to its app including 15-second videos.
After the company launched in 2010, the square photos and videos have been one of its hallmarks.
Another one has been the app-store icon that is reminiscent of old-school analog cameras produced by Kodak and Polaroid.
In fact, square pictures have been a photography feature for nearly as long as photography itself. Artists such as Andy Warhol and Ansel Adams also were fans of the format, according to Wired.
Instagram's iconic square format photos have even influenced the mobile devices they were used on. That includes the iOS camera app's square shooting mode in 2013.
