Instagram is adding auto-generated captions for videos, making the feed more accessible to users who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Announcing the new feature on Twitter, the company notes that content creators will no longer need to manually add captions to videos themselves, with the automatically generated scripts set to launch in 17 languages.
More will be coming in the near future, Instagram says, but
English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian and Arabic are among the
first rollout.
Naturally, as well as being a long-overdue feature for those
who need assistance when viewing videos, the new addition is also handy for
those who simply need to view a video without sound. And, as ever, users will
have the option to turn the auto-generated captions on or off via the app's
advanced settings.
Interestingly, company head Adam Mosseri described the move
as a "long time coming", though it does lag behind competitor TikTok,
which launched auto-generated captions in April 2021.
It also comes as Instagram places a continued emphasis on
improving Reels, its direct TikTok rival, with features like Remix (similar to
TikTok Duets) and Reels Visual Replies both arriving in the last year.
This latest move also comes a day after support for the
standalone IGTV app was ended, with Instagram pointing out that it will
continue to simplify video within the main app - a natural move, considering
Reels is the company's largest contributor to engagement
growth.
All in all, auto-generated captions is a small but
significant addition, as it's one that continues to blur the lines between
TikTok and Reels and make them both ever-improving platforms.
However, as we saw in the early days of back-and-forth between Snapchat and Instagram Stories, a winner will almost certainly emerge over the next couple of years in the short-form video arena.
Article from PocketLint
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