Instagram wants to bridge the gap between advertising and shopping for a more central buying experience. The app has long been a platform for advertisements, with both companies and creators using it as an outlet to link to products, so it's only natural for Instagram to allow users to buy content featured in posts without ever leaving the app.
In late 2012, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom made a sudden and controversial change to his social media service when he removed Twitter Card support.
One of my favorite things about Instagram, and the reason why it's still my go-to app, is the fact that it's not like Facebook or YouTube. After our last presidential election, well, I think we've all been scarred from going anywhere near Facebook. And YouTube, I'm not sure why comments on that platform are some of the worst, but they are.
Starbucks is spicing things up ahead of this holiday season with a little augmented reality joy. This week the company launched its first Instagram filter, called Holijoy, delivered like an early Christmas gift and packing four seasonal lenses.
The cosmetics brands are among the earliest adopters of augmented reality, using virtual try-on tools to preview shades of makeup before buying.
For the longest time, the only clickable link you could throw up on Instagram was in your profile's bio, and that's still true for a lot of users. The only way to add a clickable link aside from the aforementioned one is in an Instagram story, where users checking out your story would swipe up to load the webpage before going back to finish your story.
On Tuesday, on the one-year anniversary of the announcement of its AR Camera platform, Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg revealed at the company's F8 developers conference that the platform will be extended to the company's Instagram and Messenger apps.
Scrolling through my Instagram feed, I inevitably come across an image or video that I genuinely like amongst the countless selfies and plates of food porn. Naturally I want to save this image before it's buried under new posts from the heaps of people I follow, but I'm left stranded with only the ability to take a screenshot.
It might be time to move those Instagram photos to another service. It seems that Instagram has never heard of the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." In a very big WTF moment, the extremely popular photo sharing and editing app decided that it has the right to sell its users photos to third parties without pay or notice. Yep, you heard that right. That photo you took of your girlfriend laying out on the beach could be in the next stupid Corona commercial without your consent and witho...
Celebrities and influencers learned how to leverage Instagram's platform to build their brands. While some effortlessly amassed a following, many had to do the legwork to reach a vast audience. Understanding their secrets will help you grow your own following.
Sometimes, you'll see a comment on Instagram that you really need to share. Maybe it's something funny, possibly offensive. Whatever the case, the only thing to do is screenshot it and share that, right? Hopefully, not for long. Instagram is currently testing a feature that would allow you to share comments with others via a direct message and maybe even to stories and other apps.
Just because augmented reality is the technology of the future doesn't mean it can't reach into the past of computing.
Although more and more smartphones are introducing portrait modes with their cameras, there are still plenty of devices out there — especially devices older than one or two years — that do not. While your particular smartphone might not offer you that bokeh effect, Instagram can, as it gives all smartphones software-based portrait modes.
Although Instagram's summer stickers will only be here for the summer, the ice cream cone is still currently one of the most fun ones to play around with in Stories. It's also one of the stickers that lets you pick your preferred flavor of ice cream, rather than forcing just one type of flavor on you.
Get ready IG influencers, the Instagram promotional world as you know it is about to change. Instagram is one of the top places for influencers to make money with product promotion. So, of course, it is to be expected that these IG dominators would run into their fair share of disasters. Especially since over 90% of celebrities and influencers on Instagram don't follow FTC guidelines.
Instagram's controversial terms of service update this past month has spurred an onslaught of dismay and anger from users of the popular photo-sharing social network. The specific set of the new terms that set off this firestorm basically said that businesses could use your uploaded photos for advertisement, without you receiving any of the profit.
Does your Activity page on Instagram feel cluttered? You're not alone. Instagram lumps all alerts into one long, chaotic timeline, so if you want to see comments or likes, you have to weed through everything else including shares from other users, memories, recommendations, and new follows. Instagram knows its a mess, and the company plans to add notification filters to sort things out.
In general, the internet can be a cruel place, and Instagram is no exception. Most of the time, the platform is a fantastic way to share and view unique and creative content, to reach an audience of both fans and friends. People can step out of line and harass or bully others on posts to the detriment of the entire community. However, this type of commenting won't be sustainable for much longer.
Sharing your personal information can come up for any number of reasons: you may want to get in touch with a colleague after work or you've been involved in a car accident and need to stay in contact with the other driver. Unfortunately, giving out information can be the key for others to find your social media accounts, such as Instagram, whether you want it to happen or not.
Augmented Reality beauty tools have become quite popular lately, and while CoverGirl's didn't exactly turn heads, the new Wanna Nails app by Wannaby looks like a great tool for anyone who uses nail polish.
Instagram is no stranger to stealing features from Snapchat. Stories, originally a Snapchat invention, feels more at home with Instagram today. Now, Instagram is attempting to repeat this feat with nametags, a way to quickly add new friends akin to Snapchat's Snapcodes.
There are a few ways to do this, but I'm going to share with you the easiest way that I know how to share an image on Instagram Stories that isn't currently in your Stories queue.
You were the chosen one, Snapchat! The new download numbers for the social media app show just how hard it will be to bring them back to the light after the rise of the Instagram empire.
Instagram Direct is fast becoming the end-all-be-all messaging app, and it just added some incredibly convenient features that should make it a bit more practical. These new additions have a clear purpose: To help Instagram Direct grow its base and take on more feature-rich messengers like Snapchat or WhatsApp.
Starting today, you'll have the opportunity to save all your live Instagram videos to your phone at the end of each broadcast session. The latest update to the Instagram app now allows you to rewatch already-played broadcasts and gives you the ability to share them later on.
There aren't many complaints I can think of when it comes to the Instagram interface, and finding one would just be nitpicking. But like with most things in life, if given the opportunity, why not take advantage? "When in Rome," as they say.
While you may suck at Instagram, it's likely that you manage multiple Instagram accounts, whether strictly for personal use or for managing blog and business pages.
I recently ran into a problem connecting my Instagram app on my iPhone 5 to Facebook, and neither Instagram's or Facebook's help pages were as helpful as they claim to be.
Last week, Instagram stopped supporting media Cards on Twitter, meaning that in order to view a full photo shared in a tweet, you have to click through to Instagram rather than seeing it on your Twitter feed. Otherwise, the photo will appear to be cropped.
What do Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, Chris Brown, Rihanna, and Soulja Boy all have in common? They suck at Instagram.
Instagram is one of the hottest mobile apps to date, yet they have no way to upload photos straight from your computer. You can log into the Instagram web app to like and comment on photos in your feed, but that's about it. Fortunately, there are third-party apps that let you do more on Instagram from your Mac or Windows computer, so you can enjoy Instagram pics on the big screen instead of your tiny iPhone or Android device.
You may have recently seen a plethora of Instagram users, including celebrities and politicians, sharing a screenshot declaring that the platform will implement a new "rule" where it would own and could use your photos and videos however it wishes. The screenshots are part of an internet hoax, one that's been around in one way or another since 2012, but what can Instagram actually do with your media?
Your Instagram feed is jam-packed with interesting and lively photos, videos, and stories that largely offset the iOS app's comparatively bland user interface. If the interface's dull colors have always bothered you, you can splash on some much-needed color to better reflect your personality and tastes.
When you don't want certain friends viewing your account or just need to take a break from social media, Instagram lets you do so. While you can completely delete your Instagram account, then start over when you're ready again, it makes much more sense to just disable your account temporarily. Doing so will hide your profile, photos, comments, and likes from everyone, including your friends.
Facebook, parent company of Instagram, has allowed you to download photos and other account data for some time now, but the data request feature is also now available on Instagram to meet the GDPR data portability requirement in the EU — and it's available worldwide, not just in Europe.
Instagram updated its iOS and Android apps recently with an "Activity Status" indicator. This status allows your friends to see when you are currently active and when you were last active on Instagram. The problem is, Instagram was pretty quiet about this update, so many of you have it enabled without realizing it. Fortunately, it's simple to turn off.
Instagram is a great platform to share photos and videos with the world, but sharing with smaller groups is near impossible. You can directly message pictures, stories, or post links to friends, but that only works for one person at a time or in group chats you create. To share your content with a small group of people you care about the most, you'll want to use the "Close Friends" list.
I have nightmares about trying to reply to hundreds of strangers on social media. To prevent the overwhelming feeling of having to small talk with people I don't know, I'm now aiming for more control over the ways that people can contact me. One way is to stop users from hitting me up on Instagram Stories.
If you want to share a video to Stories — but it's over 24 hours old — it may seem like you can't, but there's actually a simple hack on how to do just that.
Hey, all you Instagram lovers, haters, or people who have no choice but to submissively bow down to the social app giant for other reasons, you've come to the right place. Today, I'm going to walk you through a very simple marketing trick to start boosting traffic to your IG account.
