How To Give Your Instagram A Boost With Boomerang

Following up its release of Hyperlapse and Layout, Instagram recently unveiled Boomerang, an app which produces one-second video clips somewhere between a GIF and a Vine. Several artists such as Pharrell and 21 Pilots are already using the service as a promotion tool.

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Guest Post by Victoria Morris, Coordinator, Interactive Marketing, of The Orchard on The Daily Rind

“It’s not a photo. It’s not a GIF. It’s a Boomerang.”

After launching Hyperlapse and Layout, Instagram is at it again with a new app called Boomerang. The app creates looping one-second clips that are something between a still picture and a video: a photo in motion! This allows you to bring your still photos to life while catering to our forever-shortening attention span. Remember when Harry Potter had moving pictures in his newspapers and we thought it was just the coolest thing? Well, we like to think of this as the Muggle version.

All you have to do is aim the camera at something that is moving, or use the front-facing camera to take a moving selfie. Press the big white button and you’re done. The app will take a burst of 10 photos, piece them together and spit out a mini video that plays forward and backward — like a boomerang! The video can be shared directly to Instagram, Facebook and Twitter and will automatically save to your camera roll.

So, why should musicians use Boomerang?

Visuals have become increasingly important in captivating an audience through social media. With 6-second vines and 15-second Instagram videos, we have started to lose interest and patience with longer videos. That being said, sometimes images just don’t have that extra oomph we need to capture fans’ attention. We all know how incredibly popular GIFs have become; they are fun visuals that do not waste too much of our time. This is the idea Boomerang is piggybacking off of, with the difference that clips move forward and in reverse, adding a little extra room for creativity.

Before I leave you, let’s take a look at some Boomerangs musicians have already created.

Twenty One Pilots did a series of 10 Boomerangs to promote their current tour:

Here is a boomerang from Pharrell at the MTV EMA’s:

And while we’re on the MTV EMA topic, here is a Boomerang of Justin Bieber with his new award: