Instagram Live Video Face Filters Will Give Snapchat Deja-Vu

Earlier this year, Instagram added face filters to its service, allowing users to add special effects to their selfies. Those face filters served to further blur the line between Instagram and Snapchat, and today Instagram is taking it one step forward by adding those same face filters to Live Videos. With this new feature, you'll be able to swap between your face filters as your friends watch you in real time.

It's a seemingly innocuous addition at first, but as more features are added to Instagram, it begins to look more and more like a capable competitor to Snapchat. Though we all rolled our eyes when Instagram rolled out a Stories feature that seemed to borrow directly from Snapchat Stories, that move ended up working out for them – in just one year, Instagram Stories grew to 250 million active users, something that should worry Snapchat.

In any case, today's addition lets you use any existing face filter in your Instagram Live Videos. This can be done either before you go live or while the you're broadcasting. To do so, you simply need to tap the face button you see in the bottom right corner of the display.

From there, you'll be able to pick and choose from the variety of face filters Instagram already offers. In an effort to get people to start experimenting with this new feature, Instagram is launching its new sunglasses face filter exclusively for Live Videos. It'll be exclusive to Live Videos for the next week, so if you're itching to try it out, you're going to have to do a broadcast for your friends.

It likely won't be long before we hear about the next new Instagram feature. Instagram has been rolling out new features at a pretty steady pace throughout the year, so the next launch is likely only a few weeks off. For now, though, Instagram says that face filters will be rolling out globally over the next couple of weeks, so if you're not seeing it right away, just sit tight.