We know that Instagram works hard to be continually updating and upgrading when it comes to features.
First, there was the “stories” feature; now there is the ability to share your Instagram stories to Facebook. With a new year just around the corner, let’s take a look at some of Instagram’s new and upcoming features that will only make you want to spend even more time scrolling and posting.
Disclaimer: I can’t guarantee that all these features will become publically available.
Regram Button
By now you will be familiar with the ability to regram other people’s posts.
There are an abundance of apps out there that provide this service, and a lot of them you can download for free, but until now this has meant including a third party in the process, making it a bit more time-consuming and technical. Instagram is secretly testing an integrated a button beside the like and comment buttons that will allow you to regram anyone’s post you wish without having to access a third party app.
GIF’s in Stories
Instagram might finally be getting on the GIF train in stories.
Up until now, you’ve been able to get creative with your stories, except for the use of GIFs. Instagram seems to be incorporating this function, which allows you to search their engine for trending GIFs that you can include in your Instagram stories, making them even more watchable than they already were.
If making your daily Insta story wasn’t already the highlight, then it definitely will be now. Instagram currently uses GIPHY to source their GIFs which is the most popular place that other social media sites get their sources from, and there’s even a trending page which makes it easy to choose one that you know is going to gain some attention.
Archiving Stories
In case you were worried about seeing the ultimate story and not being able to go back to re-watch it over and over, there’s now a feature for this too.
Like Snapchat utilizing the memory bank to save your favorite snaps, Instagram is introducing an archiving feature that allows you to keep your favorite stories so that you can come back to them later and not worry about them disappearing.
“Close Friends” List
Instagram is about to get exclusive. It’s good, though, if you have a relatively private account and want to keep your sharing with a small group of friends.
It’s called the Close Friends list, and it’s an additional button that allows you to share content with your nearest and dearest – whoever you choose to put on the list.
The other great thing about this feature is that they won’t know they’ve been added until you send them something – so it’s not too late to remove somebody you might have added accidentally. You don’t want it to get awkward.
Sharing to WhatsApp
Endeavoring to remain connected to the online world of social media, Instagram is making it increasingly easier to share your content with other platforms you may have.
They have done this with Facebook already, and now this is being extended to mobile apps like WhatsApp. Like previously talked about features, this will just involve the addition of a button as an option when you’re scrolling through your share options. It certainly saves time and brings all your different communication channels closer.
Once upon a time, if you wanted to find out what the top trending emojis and hashtags were on any given social media site, you had to rely on the hard work of bloggers and reviewers who would continuously update articles on Google to keep you in the loop.
Now, you don’t have to go anywhere to have all this information at your fingertips – you can stay right on Instagram. To see what’s trending in the emoji and hashtag world, Instagram is considering adding “Top Emojis” and “Top Hashtags” buttons to search engines.
Hashtag Following
We all know how to search particular hashtags within our niche to find the things we’re interested in, but because there’s so much content out there on Instagram now, it can be hard to keep up.
That’s why Instagram is thinking about introducing the ability to follow a particular hashtag. This means that you get all the latest and greatest posts that feature that hashtag, saving you from having to manually search and scroll through each time, hoping to find the ones you want before they’re gone.
It looks like this has already been rolled out now. What are your thoughts on it? Let me know in the comments!
Pinning Threads in Direct Message
There’s bound to be three or four pages that you just can’t get enough of and visit all the time, where you connect and have fulfilling conversations.
Soon there might be the option to pin these pages and discussions into your direct message, so you don’t have to travel far to visit them every day.
Automatic Emojis
Instagram could soon be boarding the emoji train and taking it to the next level with automatic emojis. This means that emojis could replace certain words in your conversations and appear instead of the word. While this feature can be somewhat annoying, it saves you time when you’re looking for that perfect emoji but quickly gets lost.
Instagram is fast learning what its users want.
While some of these upcoming features take convenience to the next level, others are the perfect solution to little problems that are sure to make your experience smoother.
The easier their app is to use, the better it works for you and your page, allowing you to use it to your greatest advantage when trying to build an audience and get more Instagram followers.
Source of info & images: The Next Web
