Instagram is rolling out a slew of new features to bring Stories and chats to the next level.
At the F8 Developer Conference today, Mark Zuckerberg revealed the Facebook-owned app will be teaming up with other platforms such as Spotify to allow users to post directly to their Instagram Stories.
And, Instagram has revealed a new video chat feature that will allow users to speak face-to-face with their friends individually, or in small groups.
The firm is also rolling out new interactive camera effects, and has overhauled its Explore tab to organize content into ‘topic channels.’
The firm is now testing out the new video chat feature, with plans to roll it out around the world soon. To access it, users can tap on a new camera at the top of any direct message thread. It will work for both individuals and groups, as shown above
Instagram’s latest features were announced at Facebook’s F8 Developer Conference today.
‘It turns out that a lot of people are using live video basically just to hang out when they can’t physically be together,’ Facebook CEO Zuckerberg explained.
The firm is now testing out the new video chat feature, with plans to roll it out around the world soon.
To access it, users can tap on a new camera at the top of any direct message thread.
It will work for both individuals and groups – and, you won’t need to stop scrolling through your feed to have a video call.
‘You can chat one-on-one or with a small group — and you can keep the conversation going for as long as you like,’ Instagram says.
‘You can also minimize the video and continue the chat while doing other things on Instagram.’
Video chats are just one of the many new features coming to the app.
At the F8 Developer Conference today, Mark Zuckerberg revealed the Facebook-owned app will be teaming up with other platforms such as Spotify to allow users to post directly to their Instagram Stories
Instagram is launching interactive camera ‘experiences’ that will allow users to grab snippets from other accounts and add them to their Stories.
‘That means you turn any video into a NBA dunkcam or add a cloud of hearts and Pomeranians to fluff up your photo,’ Instagram says.
The firm has also overhauled its Explore tab to organize content into ‘topic channels’
‘If you see a new effect in Stories from an account you follow and want to try it yourself, just tap “Try it on” and the tool will be added to your tray.’
In the months since the app first gave users the ability to follow specific hashtags, Zuckerberg says more than 100 million people have started to do so.
With the redesigned Explore tab, users will be able to curate what they see on the app, including suggested photos and videos, based on their interests.
The new Explore tab will organize content into topic channels, which Facebook says will allow users to ‘browse across your interests, while going deeper into any specific area’.
The Explore page will feature buttons at the top of the page that are labeled by interest, which users can swipe through to view more tabs.
Facebook said the video chat feature and the new Explore tab are both testing now and will be rolling out globally soon.
The firm also introduced a new way to share activity to your Stories directly from other apps.
This will allow you to show others what you’re listening to, for example, or action shots from GoPro.
WHEN DID INSTAGRAM’S CHRONOLOGICAL FEED DISAPPEAR?
In 2016, Instagram introduced an algorithm-based timeline to replace chronological posts.
And users weren’t happy. The move spurred a petition for its reversal, and the hashtag #RIPInstagram trended.
When Instagram announced it would abandon its timeline approach, it said: ‘People miss on average 70 percent of their feeds.’
To avoid this, the app implemented a new approach that would change the order based on a persons relationships and interests.
As users have grown increasingly frustrated with apps like Instagram and Snapchat, they’ve also considered turning to alternative social media platforms such as Ello and Vero, which promise to put the user experience first above algorithms
‘The order of photos and videos in your feed will be based on the likelihood you’ll be interested in the content, your relationship with the person posting and the timeliness of the post.’
Public opinion turned against the picture-sharing app as users demanded the company reverse the change.
In just days following the announcement, a petition titled Keep Instagram Chronological was born, and it gathered 158,298 supporters in 72 hours.
As users have grown increasingly frustrated with apps like Instagram and Snapchat, they’ve also considered turning to alternative social media platforms such as Ello and Vero, which promise to put the user experience first above algorithms.
What’s more, the tool will show a ‘deep link’ to the song so that when someone shares a song, it will play automatically from the Instagram story.
‘Just tap the share button in the Spotify or GoPro app and your content is pulled directly into the Instagram camera,’ Instagram says.
‘From there you can edit and add to your story or send it via Direct. You don’t have to connect your Instagram account to other apps in order to share to Stories.’
More apps will soon support the feature as well.