Over the past few months, there have been a number of subtle changes on Instagram including a new look to the layout on mobile devices and also the launch of IGTV.
Here are some of the Instagram updates in case you missed them.
Activity Monitor
The activity monitor has been added to allow you to see the average time and daily time spent on Instagram and Facebook in the last week. You can set an alert to remind you when you have spent a certain amount of time (you will still continue to be able to use the channel beyond that time).
On the apps use Settings (hamburger menu) > Your Activity (Instagram) or Your Time on Facebook (Facebook)
Incidentally, in the latest version of iOS, Apple has added a screen time option where it will display your time spent on each app. It will show you the daily average usage of each app and allow you to apply limits to each app. You can also set a period of downtime where only apps you allow and phone calls will be accessible.
Mute
Staying with the topic of allowing downtime from your smartphone, a change is rolling out to both Instagram and Facebook to allow you to turn off notifications for a period of time if you want a break from the channels.
Create a NameTag
You can now create a NameTag which you can share with other people so they can scan to follow you.
To create your Nametag:
From your Instagram profile page click the settings (hamburger menu) in the top right.
You can customise your name tag, share your name tag or scan a name tag of someone you may want to follow.
Swipe Up Links
This is a really useful option but it has certain criteria to allow you to create them. You must have an Instagram Business account and a minimum of 10,000 followers.
You may have seen these on Instagram Stories from brands. You have the option to ‘See more’ and an upwards arrow. When you swipe up a pop up appears displaying a page from their website.
More Shopping Options
Businesses can add Shopping ‘stickers’ to their Stories which users can click to be taken through to the brand’s website and buy items.
The Explore tab will see dedicated shopping channels and will show “a mix of products based on your interests” Source.
Frequently used Emojis
When you click the comment button below a post, the 8 emojis you most frequently use are shown in a bar above the text field.
How have you found these recent changes on Instagram useful? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
If you think you could use Instagram for your business or that you could be getting more benefit from this network, why not explore our Instagram for business online course?