Here Are All Of Instagram’s Latest Updates and Features For More Content Control

Social media evolves everyday – whether its features, algorithms or new platforms, the way we connect with people changes constantly, whether we like it or not. Recently, Instagram has announced numerous features and updates for users to have more control over their usage.
Here are the features that you should look out for:

Regram On InstaStories

We’ve all been through the struggles of regramming. Some of us resorted to taking screenshots while others downloaded third party apps. Now, you can share posts from your feed onto InstaStories as a sticker to share with all your friends and followers! This feature has been around for quite a bit but it was only available to select users. However, since the start of the week, everyone (iOS and Android users alike) can now share posts on their Stories. Just tap on the “airplane” button below the photo and select “Create a story with this post”. You can add stickers, text, gifs like any other InstaStory post and save it as a “highlight” if you want it to remain on your profile for longer than 24 hours.

Mute

We know of muting chats on messaging apps (and we’ve probably done it a lot) but now you can mute posts and Stories on Instagram. This is in a bid to make your feed more personalised but let’s face it – we’re going to mute people we aren’t very fond of because it won’t hurt their feelings as much. This is because they won’t know that you muted them and you’ll still be listed as a follower. It isn’t as extreme as unfollowing or blocking but it gets the job done because we won’t see their new posts come up again. To be frank, we would just hit the “unfollow” button if we weren’t interested in someone’s posts but I guess this is a good option for dealing with more sensitive people.

You’re All Caught Up

Thanks to Instagram’s algorithm that got rid of our chronological feed, people have been spending more time scrolling on Instagram to make sure they’ve seen all the posts. They won’t be bringing back our chronological feed (which sucks) but Instagram is introducing a mid-feed notification that will pop up after we’ve seen all new posts from the past 48 hours. According to techcrunch.com, Instagram is still in the midst of testing the feature and there isn’t a confirmed release date but it was created in line with Time Well Spent movement, which aims to bring valuable content to each user.
Hopefully this will help us be less paranoid about missing posts so we can stop scrolling through our feed to look for missing posts.

Data Usage

We’ve seen tons of surveys which ask us how long we spend on Instagram a day but do we actually know the real answer (and more importantly, do we want to)? Soon, we won’t be able to deny our Instagram addiction. Instagram’s CEO confirmed that they’re introducing “Usage Insights” function to inform users about the hours and data spent on the app. Well, isn’t it about time? This might just be the thing we need for a good wake up call.

There hasn’t been an official release date for this either but Twitter user @wongmjane found the embedded code for the Android app so we really hope to see this soon.

Some people get to enjoy the features before others, which may cause some upset but, not to worry, everyone will be able to enjoy all the updates, eventually. Just remember to update the Instagram app on the Google Playstore or App Store to stay up to date.

Images: Instagram