There's A New Way To Track How Many People Like Your Instagram Account

Instagram users will finally be able to see how many times a video on the social network was watched.

According to Mashable, Instagram will soon count video views and present the number in the corner below the video.

For a view to count, the video must be watched for at least three seconds, just like videos posted to Facebook.

The change represents Instagram's longterm plan to make its platform more suitable for advertisements.

Users can only post videos up to 30 seconds long, but as of last week, brands have the ability to post 60-second videos.

Advertisers who paid to have their content featured on Instagram were already able to see video view counts, but non-paying brands previously relied only on likes and comments to judge the popularity of a video.

More and more brands are reportedly turning to Instagram and Facebook for advertisements since the two social networks present a much higher probability of their ads being viewed than television. Online view counts also present essential data for brands, artists and businesses looking to earn revenue from what they post on the platform.

Instagram currently boasts approximately 400 million users, and the company also reported a 40 percent increase over the past six months in the rate at which videos get watched.

According to Mashable, Instagram is revealing these new features with the aim to encourage brands to develop advertisements specifically for its viewing platform.

Citations: Instagram videos will get cool new updates to let you see how popular you are (Mashable)