Rumours are surfacing that Facebook could be set to make the next move in the intensifying visual content battle.

Last week, the social media giant distributed mysterious invitations for a press event with text reading:

“A small team has been working on a big idea. Join us for coffee and learn about a new product.”

The conference is due to take place on Thursday (June 20) at the company’s California headquarters.

Some experts are expecting Facebook to use the event to unveil a video update for its already popular Instagram app. The gossip has been fuelled by the recent success of Vine, a video-sharing app owned by Facebook’s biggest rival, Twitter.

Vine has been on the lips of most smartphone owners over the last few months – especially since the Android version was released just over two weeks ago. In April, it became the most downloaded free app on iOS, and it’s climbing up the list on Google Play with some haste as well. The app has proved especially popular for creating short stop motion videos, with many brands and celebrities already building on their numbers of followers.

According to TechCrunch, the rumoured new addition will allow Instagram users to create 10-second video clips to share with their friends – Vine currently has a six-second limit.

Instagram was bought by Facebook last year in a deal thought to be worth more than $1bn. The photo app has, however, remained relatively untouched by its new owners. The rumour mill began to turn last month when Matthew Keys, Reuters’ former social media editor, said in a blog post that a source had explained to him that Facebook was testing a new video app.

Brands and marketers will no doubt be watching Facebook’s movements closely. While Vine is currently winning the visual content race, Instagram is in the perfect position to provide some healthy competition.

Graeme Parton

Graeme has experience creating content for online sources and for the radio, and at university he studied Multimedia Journalism.