Instagram is celebrating its tenth anniversary today— boy, time sure flies! As part of the birthday celebration, the company is rolling out a few new features to users globally.
An excerpt from a blog post penned by Adam Mosseri, who is the head of Instagram:
To keep pace with what’s next, we have to adapt, too. Instagram’s home was designed at a different moment. Over the coming months, you’ll see some major changes from us, like tabs for Reels and shopping and some big improvements to messaging. We’ll look to accelerate ways for creators to make a living and for small businesses to sell their products.
TechCrunch detailed the new features as part of the tenth anniversary celebration. Among them is a Stories Map, which is a private place that only you can see where the service provides a retrospective of all the stories you’ve shared over the last three years, as evidenced by the screenshot top of post. The new calendar view helps you navigate your Stories Map.
TechCrunch commented:
Though this may surprise some users who thought Instagram Stories’ ephemeral nature meant they were deleted from Facebook servers over time, it’s not the first time Instagram has pulled up your old Stories to build out a new feature.
You’re going to love this one: you also get custom icons that you can use to personalize your Home screen further. The animation embedded below cycles through some of these.
The custom app icons are provided in different shades of orange, yellow, green, purple, black, white and more. “There’s also a rainbow-colored Pride icon and several versions of classic icons, if you want a more nostalgic feel,” TechCrunch noted.
A pair of quality-of-life improvements are rolling out with the latest release, too. The first will automatically hide any comments that are similar to other comments that users have already reported. That feature will start as a limited test before being more widely available.
And when repeat offenders do attempt to post offensive remarks over and over again, Instagram will now put up an additional warning, suggesting “that they take a moment to step back and reflect on their words and the potential consequences,” TechCrunch explains.
Now you can shop… right on IGTV 🛍🎥
It’s an easier way to find products you love and support your favorite creators. 🙋♀️ Available everywhere today. pic.twitter.com/aeV2FEL01m
— Instagram (@instagram) October 5, 2020
And lastly, Instagram its bringing shopping to its IGTV service. “It’s an easier way to find products you love and support your favorite creators,” the company noted. Shopping in IGTV is available to Instagram users everywhere starting today.
These changes are available starting today in Instagram’s updated app for iOS and Android.