Three New Instagram Features (Beta Stage)

At this point it’s an epidemic: Social Media Managers everywhere have Mosseri on notification. It feels like almost every week there is a new update or feature on Instagram as they attempt to pull ahead in their long standing competition with Tiktok! Mosseri promises these tests are to 1) Create a Better Experience for us and 2) Keep up with latest trends to remain relevant as an app. That’s great, but as a Manager it is critical you stay on top of these constant changes… it equates to a lot of hard work! Hopefully my new blog series on updates, trends and strategies can help. Let’s get started. “Custom” Explore Page Suggestions on Instagram are personally curated on this custom Explore Page tab! Seeing content that isn’t interesting to you? You can easily use this feature to hide multiple posts with one single swipe of the finger to enhance and customize this Explore Page experience.

Hide Posts Containing Certain Words and MORE Hide suggested IG Posts that utilize certain words and emojis to create the perfect IG browsing experience for you. Tired of hearing about Kanye West? Muted. Really overwhelmed from certain news agendas and needing a detox? Removed. Personally I think this is a great step in making the app more appropriate for people of all ages and more mental health friendly. Whenever you see something in suggested that feels like it disinterests or offends you this experience will help alleviate those pesky posts to make your browsing seamless.

Repost Feature Currently the only way to directly re-post another person’s content is by using a third party app, inviting as a collaborator or by taking a screenshot. Users can now share someone’s post to their Story only BUT thus new feature could change that very soon.

My take- be prepared to see a lot of fluctuations this quarter as Instagram attempts to outperform other Social Apps by making changes that promote uniformity and mental health online. IG is acquired by Meta- you might recall a few years back how they had massive backlash from utilizing an algorithm that profited off of division and agitated excitement. Instagram is now attempting to prove that pivoting in the other direction can also be profitable for themselves and their community. I’m not sure how all of this will go over since I don’t see the average consumer looking to take such intense measures to customize their experience. Not all of these changes will stick. Once we know more about which Beta’s are rolling out en masse we will update you! In the meantime make sure your content is uplifting, positive and not using any keywords that could get you removed from the average user experience.