Recent & upcoming Instagram features you need to know about!
February 2022
Staying up to date with the latest trends in Social Media is super important! Here's a little update on what Instagram is doing to stay relevant and exciting for its users.
What's New?
NEW INSTAGRAM FEED OPTIONS
Currently in the testing phase, Instagram will roll out 3 different post feeds: Home, Favorites and Following. You will be able to choose which feed you’d like to use via a drop-down menu located in the top left corner of the feed.
Home
This is similar to the current feed, where users see content that the Instagram algorithm thinks they will enjoy. Once rolled out worldwide, the 'Home' feed will involve more suggested content, creating a somewhat new experience for users as they will see plenty of posts from accounts they don’t follow.
Favorites
A new style that creates a personalised feed where users will only view content from accounts that they select themselves. It is suggested Favorites will be an extension of the ‘Close friends’ feature that has proved popular for stories and sharing content. Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri (@Mosseri) recently mentioned in a video that the feed captures content from only ‘accounts you don’t want to miss things from’.
A potential benefit of Favorites will be the ability to personalise your feed, creating a more intimate experience, and give users the option to get away from the chaotic, cluttered feeds and mindless scrolling that many experience! This personalisation may involve only selecting family and best friends for example.
Following
Perhaps the most exciting new feature for users is the reintroduction of the popular chronological feed that brings you the newest content from accounts you follow at the top of the feed. For businesses, the update will create competition for post coverage at peak times of the day, meaning greater strategy and planning will have to go into maximising exposure. For the ‘everyday’ user, the update will bring back a more organised and easy to use feed.
REEL UPDATES
With the rapid rise of TikTok – which now has over 1 billion users – Instagram has quickly developed reel and video content features to keep up with the trend that’s altering social media worldwide.
Recent changes include the ability to reply to reel comments with another reel. This creates a fun and interactive feature that further boosts the use of video for the platform. Speech and text effects have allowed translation to occur in a user-friendly way, allowing for quick and easy digestion of reels.
@Mosseri has recently released videos confirming further changes look to be on the way within messaging and video content as Instagram looks to focus on expanding these areas through 2022.
PRIVATE STORY LIKES
@Mosseri has also recently released the news that a further change is happening to messaging and stories. You can now privately like any story, meaning that reacting to stories doesn't clutter your DM's. There is now a heart icon on a story, which if you tap on it, will send a like to the author of the story. This creates a cleaner experience for users who can now show their love to other people's stories in an easier and cleaner way without receiving lots of reactions in the DM section.
POST COLLABS
An exciting feature for creators, who are now able to collaborate easily with other accounts to increase their reach and audience. The post will feature on all the collaborators feeds meaning followers from both their accounts will see the post and those featured in it.
Further updates are likely on the way as subscriptions will be introduced to give creators rewards and incentives to do their thing! This could dramatically change Instagram, both financially and through the way it is used as a platform.
So, what does this mean for businesses?
The changes to the feed will have the biggest impact on businesses. Ads and social posts will have a better opportunity to get exposure on multiple feeds, rather than being limited to only certain users on one feed. The three feed options create different channels for posts to fall into, meaning a greater audience will see the posts, boosting engagement significantly.
Video is also the new MUST DO for businesses. Short attention spans and TikTok popularity means putting emphasis on good quality video content is vital! A big shift away from photo posts with long, story-telling captions! Grab your audience quickly!
Exciting times on the Gram! We will make sure we keep you informed on the latest changes and updates as we move through 2022.
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