Despite the seemingly increasing unpopularity of Facebook, it’s sister app Instagram continues to make strides. Instagram’s popularity as the social media app of choice remains quite strong, especially in terms of its cross-generational appeal. But like any good app, Instagram can’t rest on its laurels and needs to add new features to cements its flagship status for parent company Meta.
New features and functions have been introduced over the course of the first half of 2022, and chances are you noticed them whilst on the app. Hopefully you’ve even tried to use them successfully. But if not, have no fear because we are going to discuss them here for you. Give your thumbs some time to relax and let’s go over what’s new on Instagram for users in 2022.
NFTs
Instagram has finally jumped on the train and embraced non-fungible tokens. NFTs have skyrocketed in popularity over the last year and a half with people collecting or creating them. Some do it purely for artistic endeavors, whilst others have a clearer eye on the investment opportunity they possess.
Instagram has launched a new function for creators to sell their NFTs and for collectors to purchase them. This enormous addition to the user experience will likely have huge implications for the app’s longevity. And let’s face it, what app is better suited for creators to profit on than Instagram!
This monetization function for the NFT community represents a huge opportunity for creators and collectors because there is a unique digital storage space for their NFTs – and they can show them off via their profile.
Stories, messages and the feed itself are all options to do this. Plus you can announce your NFT (that you purchased or want to sell) on the app seamlessly.
It remains to be seen though how this centralized platform will cope with and integrate with the new web 3.0 that is fully decentralized. So, stay tuned!
Product Tagging Feature
This new feature was something only creators or brands had access to on Instagram, but now anyone can use it for tagging products on their feeds. This is perfect for small businesses, especially if they have shops on Etsy!
With this added feature, U.S. users are able to tag brands and then indicate products in their posts. Users that tap on a product tag will then see further information about the product. A further benefit of this Product Tagging Feature is that users can then purchase the product directly within Instagram or once they are redirected to that brand’s account.
How to add Product tags to your posts:
For now, product tagging is only available on posts to your feed but Instagram is working on enabling this feature on stories too.
New Messaging Features
There are a whopping 7 new Direct Messaging (DM) features out now:
1. Reply during browsing
You won’t need to switch to your DMs to reply to a message anymore.
2. DM shortcut
Hold down the share button underneath a post to quickly send it to someone.
3. See who is online
This feature has long been on the Facebook Messenger app, but now you can see who is on Instagram by their profile picture in your messages area. If there is a green dot on their pic, it means they are online. Users can also browse uninterrupted by turning off their Activity Status in their Privacy Settings.
4. Play, pause and re-play music
Instagram has already integrated Apple Music and Amazon Music, with Spotify soon to come. Users can share songs via their DMs now and users can then listen to the first 30 seconds of it directly in the chat.
5. Silent mode
Send messages without notifying your friends. Simply type “@silent” along with the message to send silently.
6.Lo-Fi theme
Bored with the usual white or black chat background? Select the “lo-fi” theme.
7. Create a poll within your DMs
Create debate between friends. Let the chaos begin!
3D Avatars
The Metaverse seems to be like NFTs in that it has become part of a new vernacular. It is hard to ignore lately and given its emerging popularity, Instagram decided to introduce 3D avatars for us that we can feature on our stories and in messages.
For a more inclusive representation of all its users, Meta (Instagram’s parent company) introduced a range of new features to its avatars that included new face shapes, expressions, skin shades and assisted devices. Currently it is only available to US, Canada and Mexico users. Work is in progress however to launch it globally.
Meta also claims to be making the avatars available on Facebook and Messenger in the coming few months, likely so users can have a common Meta 3D Avatar.
Subscriptions
Revenue generation appears to be an important addition to much of Instagram’s new features and appears to be very dependent on the content created as opposed to ‘reach’ and followers numbers.
This Subscription feature affords three types of content.
First, subscribers’ specific live content allows creators to go live only for subscribers. This lets a more devoted audience view the content only and gives incentives for followers to turn into paid subscribers to get exclusive content.
Secondly, subscribers get certain stories posted only to them. A purple ring around a profile pic lets subscribers know that new content is for their exclusive viewing only.
And finally, subscribers themselves get a purple badge that indicates them to a creator whilst messaging or leaving comments.
Parental Supervision Features
Meta recently announced some new parental control and supervision measures it would implement for both Instagram and Quest Virtual Reality.
This supervision feature requires the consent of the users, which of course can be children and teens. Parents are now able to track the accounts their children follow and then set parameters on screen time.
Meta’s aim with this feature is to eventually enable parents to monitor their child’s activities from a central location. Currently this feature has been activated in the US only, but will be rolled out globally before the end of 2022.
Enhanced Hashtags
Enhanced ‘hashtagging’ will make it easier for creators to get kudos for their social media creations. This new feature is intended to help promising creators to get their deserved credit and get discovered by the ever-growing influencer community.
Previously hashtags on Instagram were much the same as Twitter; they enabled quick searching and on occasions, created social media awareness of causes. The enhanced hashtags on Instagram go further than this though as they create fundraising opportunities on top of awareness.
Order of Feed
Instagram’s CEO announced that they implemented a feature that can chronologically order of your feed. Three new options can be chosen from – ‘Home’, ‘Favorites’, and ‘Following’. Every Instagram user can choose which they prefer to see the order of posts on their home screen
Video Remixing
To let creators and users keep up with new trends’ and share their reactions, a new feature was rolled out back in 2021 that enabled them to remix their reels that they had previously posted on Instagram. Instagram fortunately decided to extend this update to include all new public video formats.