Facebook has gone through a data privacy turmoil this year and continues to do so. Having said that, it has products like Instagram that have done well for itself, with new features added at regular intervals.
Right from beginning of the year, it became evident that the popular photo sharing app could be showered with new features that will change the complexion of what users can do on it.
Here’s a look at all the features introduced on Instagram this year, living up to its billing of being a Snapchat copycat and also sprinkled with features that were first seen on WhatsApp.
Instagram Video Chat
Video chat was one of the first features to be introduced on Instagram this year. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook unveiled it at the Facebook F8 conference early this year. The feature works similar to what we’ve seen on WhatsApp, except that you need to follow the person and vice versa.
You head over to the message corner, on the top right of the app, select the person you want to video chat with and tap the video symbol at the top right of the messaging screen. Users can chat with one person at a time, and you’ll only get notified about the call without any ringtone playing.
Download User Data
On 18 April, Facebook introduced new privacy updates for its users in Europe as part of EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that went into effect from 25 May.
Following Facebook’s suit was its photo sharing app Instagram, which released an update that let users download the data and know what data is being tracked and used by the application.
Instagram Lite for Low-End Phones
In order to widen its reach, Instagram has introduced a lighter version of its app, called Instagram Lite.
“The Instagram Lite app is small, allowing you to save space on your phone and download it quickly,” the description on Play Store reads. The app, being the lighter version of Instagram will be a mere 573 Kb in size – that is 1/55th the size of the actual Instagram app, which stands at 32 Mb currently.
The app will help users who don’t have access to advanced phones with sufficient space and fast internet speeds or affordable data plans.
The app looks exactly like the actual Instagram app, but lacks the feature of sharing videos and direct messages. We tried to get access to the Instagram Lite app, but it has not rolled out for India yet.
IGTV - Instagram's Answer to YouTube
Instagram introduced IGTV, a standalone app for watching long-form vertical videos. It will support videos of up to 10 minutes playback, which will go up to an hour’s playback for creators with a large number of followers.
The videos on IGTV will be pre-recorded. IGTV is a standalone app as well as an option within the Instagram app. To search on IGTV, just tap the search bar on the home page and type in the name of the creator you want to watch.
Another fact to consider is that IGTV is ideal for vertical videos, something YouTube is yet to push.
Ask Me Question Comes to Instagram
The Facebook-owned mobile app has added a new sticker option called Questions, which allows users to let other users ask them anything just like they do on Reddit.
You can select this feature from the sticker tray after taking a photo or shooting a video from the app. The sticker can be added to any picture or frame and you can add your question on it after that. The Questions sticker is available as part of Instagram version 52 on iOS and Android.
The point of Instagram was to compete with Snapchat, which it has done exceedingly well. We still want to question as to what got into the team, which compelled them into becoming a colourful version of Reddit.
Find Contacts With Nametag
Users on the photo sharing platform was introduced to a new feature "nametag" to make the process of finding and adding people and accounts easier.
With nametag users have the liberty to add colours, emojis and selfies with different stickers and design their own identification card.
To scan someone's nametag, you can either swipe right into the camera, hover over the nametag and hold down on your screen, or enter the camera by tapping 'Scan a nametag’ when viewing your own.
Users would also be able to share their nametag with friends through text messages and over other platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp, the company had said during the launch this year.
Share Stories With Close Friends
The photo-sharing platform Instagram also announced its users can now make a "close friends" list on its "Stories" to share it with the people they've selectively added.
It is a global roll-out and to add people to their list, users need to go to their profile and tap on "Close Friends" in the side menu. This feature is another tick for the Facebook-owned photo sharing platform, making it closer to work like Snapchat.
And just like Snapchat, Instagram's Stories lets users post images and videos that vanish after 24 hours, giving it the unique value that people have tried out on its competition platform.
If someone has added you to their list, you will see a green badge when you're viewing their stories. You'll also see a green ring around their profile photo in the stories tray, the company added.
Track Time Spent on Instagram
Instagram rolled out a feature to track users' time spent on the app. The feature is designed to help users manage social networking by maintaining time spent per day on Instagram on a particular device for a week on average.
The feature gives users more control over how they interact with social media that may be harmful to the mental health and well-being of the users if used excessively.
Removal of Spam Posts and Fake Users
This is not exactly a feature added to the platform, but its value is seen more crucial for the legitimacy and sound health of Instagram.
It announced its latest step to purge inauthentic likes, follows and comments from accounts that used third-party apps to boost their popularity.
The company said that it has built a Machine Learning (ML) tool to help spot accounts that used automated apps to generate likes and follows from fake users to produce a fake impression that they were enjoying more attention than they actually did.
Instagram even advised its users not to use third-party apps to access their accounts by sharing their username and password to prevent their accounts getting hacked.
Next Up, Voice Notes
Instagram announced a new feature that most of us used on WhatsApp for quite sometime now. The feature is called Walkie Talkie.
The voice note option is now available to Instagram users, who can privately send audio messages to their friends. Sending a voice note is easy. Press and hold the microphone button and hold it while talking.
You’ll see the graph jump once you start speaking. Interestingly, the voice messages, unlike Stories on Instagram will not get deleted automatically, even after 24 hours and anybody can listen to them whenever they want.
You can record a voice message for up to one minute. And if by mistake you send a wrong message then Instagram lets you unsend it and the same gets deleted from both ends.
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