7 Latest Instagram Changes in Honor of 7-Year Anniversary

  1. The Grid Could Be Changing from Three Columns to Four

By far the most controversial of changes, this feature has not fully rolled out to all users yet, but it could be soon. While it seems like just a simple aesthetic change, many people and brands have built their profiles around posting a three-part photo series, or a “mosaic photo,” which splits an image into several posts to form a larger picture on your profile page, and the column change could ruin the formatting of these posts. Although controversial, you can read more about the pros and cons here.2. Archive Your Photos

This feature was introduced in June of this year, but it’s seemingly the less known or used feature. Basically, you can archive photos you want to hide from your profile without permanently deleting them. A simple feature? Yes, but not if you’re a creative thinker with the bigger picture (no pun intended) in mind. Cue Chipotle’s latest queso promotion, which had several unique elements, one of which was archiving all photos on their profile except for pictures of the new queso. The campaign was engaging and received noticeable results, but you may notice something about the picture below. If not, scroll back up to #1.

3. Instagram Story Polls

Building on the already popular Instagram Stories comes the newest feature: polling. You can now add polls to your Instagram Story and customize the answer choices. However, you are limited to only two response options, unlike Twitter polls, which allow up to four choices. Regardless of this feature’s current limitations, it’s no doubt a great way to boost engagement with your audience on the platform.

4. Share Instagram Stories Directly to Facebook

It might seem repetitive, but for those who are determined to share every capturable moment across all social platforms, this feature is for you. Users previously had to manually share Instagram Stories to Facebook, but recent updates now allow users to cross-post their stories to both platforms. This feature is not currently available for businesses, but that’s not to say it won’t be in the future.

5. Format Images in a Carousel

This is one of the changes I’m most looking forward to, and in my opinion, it should have existed from the start. If you’ve been utilizing the carousel feature, you know that you cannot adjust the image to post as a landscape. The Daily Mail reports that this will soon change and give people more freedom with the style in which they post carousels. Personally, I’m pretty excited because I can’t count how many times I’ve wanted to use a photo in a carousel and I’ve had to go back and use a third-party app to reformat it before switching back over to Instagram to actually post it. This might seem like another small change to some people, but it no doubt will be a huge time-saver.

The latest feature coming to your desktop? Instagram Stories. Click To Tweet

6. View Instagram Stories via Your Desktop

Instagram has been vocal about which features will stay strictly mobile, but that doesn’t mean they’re not updating how you view things on your browser from time to time. The latest feature coming to your desktop? Instagram Stories. You still won’t be able to post from a computer, but at least you’ll be able to view everything in one place.

7. See Who Follows You Back

So far, this has only been activated for Android users, but potentially rolling out to iOS users soon. You might see this capability as nothing more than something to start fights between friends who aren’t really your friends, but it has value from a business standpoint, as well. When it comes time to do a following purge on your page, this feature will make it easier to monitor new followers as you add them, in addition to noting who isn’t engaging with your brand and not worth pursuing.

 

Related Posts: 5 Simple Tips to Make Corporate Anniversaries More Meaningful Threads for Brands: What You Need to Know How the ’Gram Can Rev Up Your Social Media Marketing Instagram’s newest, not-so-original, feature & why your brand should care Instagram Direct’s newest feature: A how-to for marketers Five Instagram Secrets for Health Brands