Top New Instagram Update You Need To Know
this popular social media network has introduced several new features recently
Instagram has grown to be more than just a photo-sharing social media platform over the years. It has become one of the most powerful channels for businesses to tap into their target audience, across different industries.
Some of these features are:
- Reels
- Instagram Shopping
- Instagram Guides
- Instagram Live Updates
- Keyword Search
Reels
Reels invites you to create fun videos to share with your friends or anyone on Instagram. Record and edit 15-second multi-clip videos with audio, effects, and new creative tools. You can share reels with your followers on Feed, and, if you have a public account, make them available to the wider Instagram community through a new space in Explore. Reels in Explore offers anyone the chance to become a creator on Instagram and reach new audiences on a global stage.
Creating Reels
Select Reels at the bottom of the Instagram camera. You’ll see a variety of creative editing tools on the left side of your screen to help create your reel, including:
- Audio: Search for a song from the Instagram music library. You can also use your own original audio by simply recording a reel with it. When you share a reel with original audio, your audio will be attributed to you, and if you have a public account, people can create reels with your audio by selecting “Use Audio” from your reel.
- AR Effects: Select one of the many effects in our effect gallery, created both by Instagram and creators all over the world, to record multiple clips with different effects.
- Timer and Countdown: Set the timer to record any of your clips hands-free. Once you press record, you’ll see a 3–2–1 countdown, before recording begins for the amount of time you selected.
- Align: Line up objects from your previous clip before recording your next to help create seamless transitions for moments like outfit changes or adding new friends into your reel.
- Speed: Choose to speed up or slow down part of the video or audio you selected. This can help you stay on a beat or make slow-motion videos.
Reels can be recorded in a series of clips (one at a time), all at once, or using video uploads from your gallery. Record the first clip by pressing and holding the capture button. You’ll see a progress indicator at the top of the screen as you record. Stop recording to end each clip.
Shops on Instagram
Businesses continue to face the challenges of selling online as they shift their business models during the COVID-19 crisis. Today, we’re announcing a new shopping experience to keep businesses going and make it easy for people to shop for the things that they’ll love.
Shops are an immersive full-screen storefront that enables businesses to build their brand story and drive product discovery — all in a native shopping experience.
People can visit a shop from a business’ Instagram profile or through feed and Stories. Once they’re at the shop, people can browse products, explore collections, and purchase products — seamlessly through our in-app browser or without leaving the app from shops with checkout.
Creating a shop is free and simple. Starting today, we will begin a phased roll-out of shops to all businesses globally on Facebook and Instagram Shopping. We will start with eligible businesses that use Instagram profile shops and will expand access over the next few months. Eligible businesses will receive an email when their shop is ready to start customizing.
Instagram Guides
Instagram has announced that it is expanding its Guides feature to everyone. The feature was released back in May. Initially, the company worked with experts and creators to create guides focused on well-being tips. These included Guides in how to look after yourself, maintain a connection with others, or manage anxiety and grief during COVID-19.
The company states that due to the popularity of the feature and requests for increased availability, it is “expanding Guides to everyone and making them easier to create.”
Instagram users will now be able to find Guides on their profile and share them across Stories and DMs. Instagram will be selecting Product Guides made by users and be featuring them inside of the Instagram Shop, allowing people to discover new products from people they might not follow.
Instagram Live Updates
Instagram continues to focus on improving its live video experience, and today, it announced multiple small changes that’ll make streaming on the platform and then saving those live videos easier. The biggest update is that streamers are no longer limited to 60-minute broadcasts — they can go live for up to four hours. This extended timeframe will be available to all Instagram users globally, so long as they have no history of IP or policy violations.
People will also be able to view their own live streams in their private archive, similar to Stories and Posts, for up to 30 days after they air. They can choose to download the content and post it elsewhere. Finally, Instagram is adding a “Live Now” section to IGTV where people will find content to watch live at that moment.
Taken altogether, Instagram is clearly investing in live-streaming while the format is still hot because of the pandemic. In its release about the changes, the company mentions the longer live timeframe giving fitness instructors the ability to teach for longer as well as giving activists trying to connect with their community more time for conversation.
Keyword Search
Instagram users’ ability to search is getting an upgrade. Today, the company announced that English-speaking users in six countries, including the UK, US, Ireland, and Canada, will be able to search the platform using keywords. Before today, they could only search for hashtags or accounts. So, for example, if you previously wanted to find “healthy recipes,” you’d only be able to search for posts that tagged #healthyrecipes or account with variations on “healthy recipes” in their name or bio. Now, however, Instagram will let people search the keywords themselves, meaning posts that feature healthy recipes should surface, even if the specific tag is missing.
It’s unclear how the service determines what a post is about, though. My search for healthy recipes yielded gluten-free and paleo cookie recipes, for example, which likely isn’t what someone is trying to find when they search for healthy recipes.
A company spokesperson says the team considers “a number of factors,” including the “type of content, captions when it was posted,” and more to surface relevant results. It also uses machine learning to “find the highest quality content that’s relevant to you.” For now, only grid posts will show up.
