Instagram today celebrates its 10th birthday with the unveiling of several new features, including a private “Stories Map,”, offering a compilation of the stories you’ve shared over the past three years, a pair of well-being updates, and the recently announced IGTV Shopping update. For those who have recently been encouraged to update their home screen, there’s also a range of customised app icons, which is the new trend.
In Instagram’s code, the icons had been found earlier in production, and it was thought they would be part of a larger “birthday update.” That turned out to be true.
Through the update, users can select from several icons in shades of orange, yellow, green, purple, black, white and more on both iOS and Android. Even, if you like a more nostalgic look, there’s iterations of classic symbols and some rainbow-coloured Pride symbol.
Here’s How can you access the icons-
- Firstly update the app.
- Go to the settings within the app.
- Do a long swipe down on the screen and it will reveal some emojis on the upper area.
- Once you’ve swiped down enough Instagram will present you with a message and the list of icons.
- If you’re having troubles with icons, Restart your device, it’ll help(worked for me š ).
Instagram Stories Archive Update
The latest Stories Map feature introduces a private map and Instagram Stories calendar that you have posted over the past three years, so you can look back at your favourite moments. Although this may disturb some users who assumed the ephemeral nature of Instagram Stories meant that they were removed over time from Facebook servers, it is not the first time the company has dug up the old storeys to construct a new feature.
For instance, first announced in 2017, Instagram’s “Story Highlights” allowed users to build a permanent home for some of their previously ephemeral content.
Hide Reported Comments
In addition to the start of the Bullying Prevention Month, two other new updates both rolled out with the latest update are scheduled. The first, which begins as a sample, would automatically mask comments that are identical to the ones already reported. These will also be visible if you wish to see what has been omitted from the main comment section under the tab “View Hidden Comments.”
This feature is very similar to the “Hide Replies” functionality on Twitter that was released worldwide last year. Like Twitter, through an additional click, the feature would position inappropriate or derogatory comments, which allegedly serves to disincentivize this form of content, since it will be shielded from view. The original poster had to manually hide the replies, except in Twitter’s case. However, the Instagram feature attempts to automate this feature.
Company states that whenever users regularly try to post derogatory comments, it is now extending its nudge warnings function to include an extra message. Instagram also has an AI-powered mechanism that alerts people whenever their comments may be considered unsuitable by allowing them a chance before publishing to reconsider and make improvements. This feature will also approach repeat offenders, recommending they take a moment to stand back to focus on their words and future consequences.
The company also released new data on trends across its platform as well as an editorial look back at Instagram’s key milestones. Here, it revealed trends across music ā like KPOP is the No. 1 most-talked-about genre ā together with other trends, like top songs, AR effects, top story fonts, and more. They said more than a million posts mentioning “meme” are shared on its platform each day. 50 per cent of users see a video on Instagram every day. More than 900 million emoji reactions are sent every day, and the average person sends 3x more DMs than comments.
The updated app is available on both Android and iOS.
