Geofenced sharing, Quiz stickers, Stories Highlight stickers and a separate interface to add hashtags to posts are some of the new features that Instagram has created prototypes or is testing. The latter could finally #cure #the #hashtag #madness that has infected many of the billion Instagram users, causing them to desperately fill their legends with tagged words that make the feed difficult to read in the hope of Get some views or additional followers. . [Update: Instagram has also confirmed the launch of GIFs in Direct messaging. Details below.]
The rhythm of the iteration on Instagram is amazing and helps to leave Snapchat in the dust. With Facebook's deep pockets financing its product, design and engineering teams, Instagram can keep your application full of cool toys to play. Here is a look at three prototypes, a test and a confirmed launch of Instagram.
Hashtag Selector
The feature has not been released or is not necessarily trying, and Instagram declined to comment on it. But frequent TechCrunch mobile researcher and informant Jane Manchun Wong was able to extract the prototype from the designated hashtag selector of the Android Instagram application code. Displays a dedicated "Add Hashtags" option below the subtitle composer and the people tagger. Wong's previous similar discoveries have led TechCrunch to search for final versions of Instagram video calls, name tags, music tags and more, although there's always the chance that Instagram will remove this feature before it launches.
Subtitle exclusion hashtags could make adding them to less invasive and distracting publications, and get more users to do so. In turn, this could help Instagram to adjust its feed algorithm to show more posts with hashtags that seem to matter, get more users to follow hashtags and allow you to better order the Explore page with its new thematic channels, such as Sports, Beauty and Shopping . But perhaps most importantly, it could make Instagram less annoying. Everyone has that friend who slaps on so many hashtags that their legends become an incoherent disaster.
Geofenced Publications
Wong also released a powerful new feature that could help social media managers, businesses and professional creators reach the right audience. Instagram has created a prototype of the "Choose locations" option for publications that allows you to select from a list of countries where you want your publication to be visible. Instagram did not want to comment.
The geofencing function could allow Instagram users to design different content and legends for different countries and languages. Facebook has offered geofencing for publications for many years, and Instagram already offers ad targeting up to the zip code or mile radius. But if this location selector is released for everyone's publications, it could allow people and professional accounts to express their prismatic identity differently around the world.
Stories Highlight Stickers
Instagram confirmed to me that this final Wong find is officially in evidence. It allows users to convert the highlighted Stories element of another person from their profile into a sticker to superimpose their own story. It's an extension of the Quote-tweet-style feature that Instagram started testing in March and that allows you to convert people's publicity posts into Stories stickers so you can add your comments, or dump on someone stupid. The Stories Highlight stickers could create a new path to virality for the creators of stars that could convince their followers to re-share their Highlights and turn their friends into fellow fans.
Test stickers
This prototype discovered by The WABetaInfo Twitter account allows users to ask a question in their story and designate a correct answer. The questionnaires' decal works in a similar way to the survey stickers and recently added Instagram questions, but instead of counting the results or allowing you to republish someone's answer, you will immediately see if they guessed the correct answer for your test. This is related to Instagram's strategy to crush Snapchat by making its own stories more interactive and turning the connection between fans and followers into a two-way street.
Video tagging
Instagram confirmed the release of a new feature, tag people in videos. TechCrunch discovered this last week and Instagram said it was testing, but after our investigation it told us that it is now fully implemented. Video tagging could generate additional visits for Instagram as few people have the willpower to ignore a notification that they were named in a new piece of content. The feature could also help Instagram discover who to show the videos to by allowing him to place them on the list of best friends of the tagged people.
GIF in Direct
Today also on Instagram confirmed that GIFs are spreading to direct messaging on iOS and Android, allowing you to search through a file of animated images with GIPHY , or slip through a GIF section of trends. You can also press the "random" button after entering some keywords to get a surprise GIF added to your conversation. And after previously hiding who made those GIFs, users can now touch and hold them to see the creator and other GIFs they have created. Initially, Instagram offered GIF stickers like Stories in January, and Wong saw them previously in Direct in the Instagram code in July. Clearly, the racist GIF fiasco that led Instagram to temporarily close GIF tags did not prevent it from expanding its partnership with GIPHY.
Taken together, this flurry of new and potential features shows that Instagram does not allow its domain to decrease its shipping schedule. It also shows that Kevin Weil's Instagram product vice president for Facebook's blockchain team and his replacement by former News Feed vice president Adam Mosseri has not interrupted the application's pace of innovation.
The jury is still deliberating on whether Instagram's biggest new initiatives will take off IGTV has had a slow start, but it will take time to build a long-form video file to compete with YouTube. And we'll have to wait and see if users become addicted to Instagram's new shopping channel. But the constant update of the application eliminates the pressure of any function to support the weight of a billion people. Who wants to build a direct competitor to something that evolves so fast?