Commemorate 2013 Instagram Style!!!

A quick perusal through my Instagram feed this morning led me to one very awesome post.  A year in review!  A quick video of your most popular Instagram posts throughout 2013.  As soon as I saw my friend's video I was struck with social media envy and had to make one of my own.  

Well, it was easy and fun and now, (lucky you!) you can make one too!  Ready?

First, head to site Statigram.  Statigram is a great Instagram-tracking service, actually it is so great that it deserves it own general post.  But today, I am in a reminiscing mood (after all, its almost the end of the year!) so we are going to focus on one specific tool within Staigram, the 2013 Year In Review creator!

Statigram's site is very user friendly and by simply linking your Instagram account to the site, and clicking to make the video, you are done!  The videos can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours to create, but you'll get an email with the video attached when it is ready.  

The montage starts with the first image you posted in 2013 and follows with the five most liked images from your account.  I loved looking at my 2013 Instagram highlights.   

If you want to a slideshow or video with more than five images, check out a few other apps that can create that: namely Everlapse or Flipagram.  These montages feature up to an entire year of images.  I prefer the highlight reel, but I've seen great examples of both!

Have fun looking at your year's highlights, and Happy New Year!!

Will Facebook’s AutoPlay Videos Alienate Users?

Doesn’t it seem like every time Facebook makes a big change or announcement, people are up in arms about it? 

Well this week's news is no different!

Facebook confirmed Tuesday that it is rolling out video advertisements within users' News Feeds that will auto play on desktop and mobile.  

Yeah, kinda weird right?  So all of a sudden you are getting your daily updates from friend statuses and pics and then a random ad starts playing in your News Feed.  

It sounds annoying to me, and not what I want in my News Feed.  And I’m not alone.  Mashable has put out a flash poll and found 90% of people dissatisfied with this announcement.  Even more suprising is that almost 60% of people claim to hate it so much they would be willing to leave Facebook!

Now I highly doubt Facebook is going to lose that many of its users, but this certainly will change up your typical Facebook experience.  The company has been trying all different kinds of things to generate revenue through the otherwise free site.  Anything from paying for “stickers”, gifting to friends and the ever popular Facebook Ad.  These auto-play videos, though, are certainly the most aggressive of all the attempts.  

Do you think the ads will alienate Facebook users?  What do you think of them?