Keeping Up With Instagram

Remember the simpler days of Instagram? When it used to be all about selfies, snapping pics of your food, and no shady algorithm? Well, those days are long gone, for better or for worse. Instagram has evolved over the years, for better or for worse, and is now a creators/business playground.

Instagram has been on a roll this year with new features and capabilities and is slowly becoming an all in one app. One by one, Instagram is gobbling up each social platform by adding similar features.

• IG Stories replacing Snapchat
• IGTV trying to replace YouTube
• Reels replacing TikTok

And now Pinterest!???

With the newest features added, it seems like Instagram is now incorporating Pinterest features. Instagram released “Guides” and “Keyword Searches”.

Keyword Searches

Instagram’s search functionality limited users to find specific content through hashtags and accounts. This means saying goodbye to annoying hashtags, which is a creator/influencer/blogger’s dream! This change should ideally help you with discoverability and following as well.

Guides

This new feature allows creators to share tips, resources and other longer-form content in a dedicated tab on their user profiles. Guides were only available to a select group of creators who focused on mental health and well-being content. Instagram is now making the feature available to all users.

Other Changes

Stories has new fonts, which it pretty exciting for the creatives out there.

You have the option to have a regular account, business account or a creator account. (a separate blog topic coming soon!)

Storefront updates are great for small businesses and now with a shop tab, consumers have easier access to find products and services. I think we can all agree that the rearrangement of icons is annoying!

As part of a larger push to make Facebook and Instagram inclusive for all, Instagram IGTV creators now have the option to turn on automatic captions for their videos!

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Keeping up with Instagram is the name of the game! Be sure to let me know what you think of the new features. What you’re loving & hating and if you’re looking for Instagram alternatives!