Vertical video was once the much-ridiculed byproduct of smartphone clips filmed the ‘wrong way'. But the popularity of Snapchat and other portrait-mode video apps is prompting content platforms, advertisers and even filmmakers to take it as seriously as users. Is vertical the future of video?

Users watching vertical videos have long faced an annoying problem on YouTube’s smartphone app, with borders on either side making the video tiny. But with an increasing number of videos filmed on smartphones in the first place, the clip-sharing site is finally doing something about it.

According to two of Instagram’s employees, users of the image-based social network are tiring of picture-perfect posts. Instead of the highly curated feeds that have become the norm, people are increasingly drawn to imperfection – which is one of the drivers behind the success of Instagram Stories.

Millions of people share photos of themselves on social media every day, but the kind of pictures they post on Instagram rarely match those on Snapchat. Canvas8 spoke to marketing professors Alexa Fox and Pom Nakhata to understand how people use selfies and what it means for brands.