One of Instagram’s main competitors plans to set itself apart with a new visual search engine function.
Photo app Mobli, which boasts some noteworthy endorsements, is set to introduce a new timeline feature. The move comes after the company behind the software received a considerable investment from Carlos Slim, a Mexican business tycoon.
The Israel-based firm plans to build a larger audience by setting its sights on markets in the US and Latin America. Slim is reportedly using his investment of $60 million to introduce the 246 million users of his own mobile business, América Móvil, to the services of Mobli.
The app’s new feature will allow users to search for a subject and view its images in chronological order, potentially giving a visual insight into how a topic has progressed over time.
As well as using the content uploaded by Mobli users, the app is able to integrate with various other social platforms to create a ‘visual record’. It can, for instance, aggregate images from Facebook and other networks into a single, chronological news feed.
Since its founding, the app has attracted a number of famous investors, including film star Leonardo DiCaprio and tennis champion Serena Williams.
For internet marketing specialists, the increasing popularity of photo and video-centric social platforms serves as a testament to the importance of the more visual aspects of engaging with a target audience. For businesses, social networks can be used as effective launch pads for product images, snapshots of employees at work or promotional videos publicising new services.
In a similar vein, micro-blogging network Twitter recently upped the visual ante when it introduced a more photo-friendly feed, in which users are presented with thumbnail previews of visual content.