Instagram and National Arts Centre collaborate to celebrate #Empty spaces

Toured the NAC for #EmptyNAC #Roadto2017 today. First of several shots to come of this amazing building. #CNAvide #routevers2017

A photo posted by Jason Fournier (@jasonfournier) on Nov 18, 2015 at 7:16am PST

 Instagram and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa hosted the first official Canadian #Empty event – inviting some of the capital’s best Instagrammers to capture beautiful snapshots and video of the space before it opened to the public. The new Minister of Heritage, Mélanie Joly, was on hand to welcome attendees.

Millions of people around the world use Instagram every day to highlight local arts and culture. As part of the Road to 2017 – Canada’s 150^th anniversary – Instagram will be collaborating with centennial institutions across the country on something called #Empty events. The goal of these events is to bring people together and celebrate the beauty of Canada through the lenses of art, culture and photography.

The #Empty trend was started in 2013 by American Instagrammer Dave Krugman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. The idea is to give Instagrammers a rare opportunity to experience a cultural institution when it’s empty, either before or after-hours. 

Instagram tightens rein on third-party apps

Photo courtesy of TechCrunch

After a security issue with third-party app InstaAgent, Instagram looks to be cracking down on its third-party apps and limiting what they can offer Instagram users. The company revised its API policy and isn’t taking any new apps at the moment that want to integrate into its service. Applications will reopen next month but Instagram is limiting functions for third-party apps. These services can still pull from photos you’ve posted yourself but you can’t pull full Instagram feeds once the new restrictions are in place. Existing apps have until June 1^st to comply with the new policies and undergo the new review process.

Source: The Verge

Instagram tested out curated video channel on Halloween

It’s not the most imaginative name for a new curated video channel but Instagram has tested its “Best Videos” feature on Halloween. The videos were bundled under the headline “Watch Halloween’s best videos.” From there, users could see everything from dogs dressed as Stormtroopers, Miley Cyrus singing “Ghostbusters,” to video-editing assisted Halloween magic tricks. The feature went live at around 1 p.m. on Halloween and Instagram was said to have added videos for about 24 hours. Users were able to submit their 15-second clips by tagging them with the hashtag #IGHalloween. Perhaps we shall be seeing this feature more in other upcoming holidays and big news events and festivals.

Source: Engadget

Instagram pins blame on Apple for its anti-nudity stance

We’re sure you’ve heard of the #freethenipple movement on Instagram. It’s a protest against Instagram who quickly pulls down posts with women’s nipples (weirdly enough they don’t do it for the males, but that's a different discussion altogether). They take these down even if the shot isn’t pornographic. Why do they do that? According to Instagram CEO Kevyn Systrom, it’s because of Apple. It’s done order to keep their existing 12+ rating and get a wider audience. Only apps with 17+ rating get to show explicit content. It’s worth noting though that Twitter has tons of porn accounts and posts even with its 4+ year old rating and the app’s still on the App Store.

Source: Business Insider + Mic | Via: Engadget