Instagram’s insistence on requiring people to use its mobile apps exclusively never really sat with me. In a time when people can embed all kinds of content in web pages, here we are unable to embed our Instagrams in blog posts.
But times are changing fast. After Twitter’s Vine service came along, we soon gained ability to embed those five-second recordings pretty much everywhere (here’s how).
And just as Instagram video became a reality, I suspected it won’t be too long before we could embed 15-second Instagram clips across the web. Indeed, web embeds for Instagram photos and videos launched today and we’ve got the full details below the fold…
The functionality mimics that of Vine.
First, you’ll need to open an Instagram photo or video in your browser.
To access your Instagrams on the web, log in at www.instagram.com, click your profile image in the upper right corner and choose View Profile.
Here’s a nice photograph of a rock I snapped the other day at the beaches.
Notice a new share button on the right side of your photo, just under the comments button? Hit it to see your embed code.
Hit the Copy Embed Code button to copy your HTML code for pasting into your blog, website or article. Of course, you can manually tweak the code by changing the ‘width’ and ‘height’ parameter so the object fits any particular layout perfectly.
The resulting content appears embedded as you’d expect, like this.
I like how the embedded content includes the author’s Instagram username. As a bonus, the clickable Instagram logo takes visitors to your source account on Instagram.com where they can check out more of your photos and videos.
Here’s an example Instagram video of a salsa party we had at the beach last week.
It would have been even better if Instagram allowed us to retrieve embed codes straight from its app. I trully hope they’ll be introducing this capability in an update sooner than later.
According to Instagram, web embeds respect your privacy settings as the codes for photos and videos set to private are unavailable. And this help document reminds Tumblr users the codes are only available on Tumblr Video posts.
The mobile Instagram app is available free for the iPhone/iPod touch and Android.