Life
On April 13, Instagram announced their latest update with a host of brand new features to make Stories even more fun and interactive. A new "sticker pinning" option fine-tunes the way 'grammers can add stickers and text to videos. If you are wondering how to pin Instagram stickers to videos, it's fairly easy to learn, but may take some practice to perfect. Buckle in; we got this.
With sticker pinning, users can place a sticker in a specific location of a video and it will stay there throughout. They can also change the size of the sticker and text as the video plays — and if you want to get really fancy, you can set the exact time in the video when the sticker appears and disappears. We've seen this feature before, notes TechCruch: "Exactly one year ago, Snapchat launched augmented reality '3D stickers' and text you can stick to objects in videos, which then stay stuck to them and grow or shrink as they move around." Those familiar with Snapchat's AR stickers will likely get the hang of the Instagram version pretty quickly.
The popularity of Instagram is on the rise, with their Stories feature hitting a milestone of 200 million daily users this month — an increase of 50 million in since January. Along with sticker pinning, Instagram debuted new tools Thursday including Direct messaging for private conversations, Geolocation stickers for the cities of London, Chicago, Madrid, and Tokyo, as well as "selfie stickers," a new way to take a mini selfie and make your Story even more uniquely individual (by stamping your face all over it).
Itching to try out Instagram's latest features in your next ephemeral Story? Here's how to get started with pinning stickers in a video:
1
Take A Video Or Boomerang
If you haven't updated your Instagram recently, the first thing you should do before attempting any fancy video editing is head on over to the iTunes App Store or Google Play Store to update to version 10.16 for iOS or 10.16.1 for Android.
Once your update is complete, open Instagram and create a video by tapping the camera icon in the upper left hand corner or the "Your Story" avatar. In addition to Boomerang, the new update provides users with yet another video option called "Hands-Free." To record a video using the new mode, tap and hold the button and a timer will count down from three. In order to place the camera in your preferred position before it starts recording, you'll have to move fast; but, now you can film yourself without every video being a selfie.
2
Select A Sticker
When you are happy with your video, tap the sticker icon (the one with the smiley face) in the upper right hand corner of the screen. With even more options to choose from, the sticker menu has become an exciting place. Add context to your video by using a day of the week or time sticker, or try out one of the new Geolocation stickers for those living in Chicago, London, Madrid, or Tokyo. You can pin multiple stickers to each video, so don't stress too much about finding the perfect one to use. You can even create a new selfie sticker by tapping on the image of your profile photo with the selfie symbol over it and snapping a mini selfie of your current expression.
3
Hold Down To Pin The Sticker
Once you have selected your ideal sticker, it will appear on the video. Move the sticker to the desired location and change its size or style to suit your preference. Once you tap and hold down on the sticker, a video timeline will appear at the bottom of the screen; scroll forwards and backwards through the video to find the perfect place to pin your sticker, and hit "pin" when you are happy with your selection. If you are not thrilled with the results, tap and hold on the sticker once again and a trash can icon will appear. Tap the trash can to get rid of any unwanted stickers and start over.
4
Post Your Story!
When your Story is perfect, tap the arrow in the lower right hand corner to post it and share your video creation with friends and followers. This new feature is so fun it's sure to turn your face into the smiley emoji — literally and metaphorically.
