Top Instagram Updates & Features in October
Are you ready to see what’s new on Instagram this month? Let’s dive in and take a close look at each one.
Anti-bullying features.
Instagram introduced safety features in its effort to fight against online bullying and other kinds of harassment (especially among young adults and teens).
Now you can block comments on posts from a certain user without the user knowing, according to Instagram. But, blocked users will still be able to see their comments on a post, but the comments will not be visible to anyone else.
Automatic closed captions for IGTV videos.
Closed captions are a great way to make the content accessible to plenty of users. Because a lot of them choose to watch a video with the sound off, which is how it typically starts on auto-play.
Now when you upload an IGTV video, you’ll be able to choose to use “auto-generated captions” by enabling a toggle bar quickly.
New features for Shops.
Now businesses can easily open an Instagram Shop with checkout using the Commerce Manager or through Shopify.
Also, bloggers can tag your products in their posts to drive sales further
Live Shopping is also now coming to Insta, which allows users to purchase items that they’re viewing from a Live in real time.
Notice, that users can see more detailed analytics in the Commerce Manager.
In-testing this month: Instagram Guides (for the wider Insta user base).
Now, Instagram is testing a new feature that will allow users to build out Guides – like recommended places and products, and post longer-form content that’s not just a photo or video. In addition, the Guides will include commentary or tips alongside the media.
This feature would allow Guides to easily fit into Instagram bloggers’ workflows, as they often make recommendations to fans about where to go, what to purchase and more. Influencers could even increase their affiliate network revenue or direct more users to their sponsored posts through the use of Guides, if they chose.
In-testing this month: Users will get money for temporarily deactivated accounts.
Instagram and Facebook are currently running a test to assess their impact on elections in the United States. Their goal is to see what impact social media has on voter tendencies. So Facebook is offering money to people to deactivate their IG and FB accounts before Election Day. This test may shape both Instagram’s and Facebook’s policies moving forward.
As always, stay tuned – we’ll let you know about all the upcoming changes as they’re rolling out!
What do you think? How do you feel about the updates this month? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
