Snapchat group video chat is here, Instagram will do it better soon (probably)

Snapchat invented the concept of “stories.” You know, those daily collections of images, video, and text that Facebook, Instagram, and other social media networks now have. Except with the Snapchat redesign, those stories pretty much suck now, while Instagram’s stories are straightforward, upfront, and wildly successful.

So, it stands to reason that now that we have a Snapchat group video chat feature rolling out today, we can expect to see a better version of that feature appear on Instagram in no time at all. It’s like we get to see the beta development of Instagram features! Neat!

To use the new Snapchat group video chat feature, simply start a group chat like you normally would. Above the keyboard, you’ll see a red (or pink, depending on what color you would classify it as) video camera icon. Click that and the video chat starts, notifying everyone in the group and giving them the ability to join. The limit is 16 chatters all in the same conversation.

According to the screenshot above, each user can use filters on their feed, which makes it likely things will get wildly out-of-hand in the chat in no time. I mean, 16 people making rainbow vomit all at once? Outrageous!

If you don’t see the group chat video icon yet, you will have to wait, as the feature is just now rolling out globally to all users. If you don’t see it on your Instagram app yet, check back in a month or two and it will likely be there.

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