9 Instagram Features You Probably Didn’t Know About
When it comes to Instagram, the modus operandi is usually quite simple: take a picture or video, apply filters, tag people or locations, and hit ‘post.’ However, this standard approach can cause Instagram tunnel vision, where users are completely unaware of the other features the social platform boasts.
Although the bulk of Instagram’s functionality stems from the process described above, users who familiarize themselves with the app’s many features can get the most out of their usage — everything from automatic Instagram likes to more Instagram followers. Here are 9 unique Instagram features that most people are completely unaware of.
1) Saved Posts
With the increasingly fast dissemination of information, thanks to social media and the Internet, it can often be hard to recall previous photos you’ve liked. Days or weeks pass, and so do the photos posted in that time period. However, with the save feature, users can hold onto posts they especially enjoy.
Saved posts go into a special collection of photo and video, only accessible to each individual user. This way, people can build personal stashes of their most beloved posts, without publicly notifying any friends or other users; the beauty of saved posts is their invisibility.
2) Hide Unwanted Ads
As advertising efforts have flooded the Instagram social sphere in greater numbers than ever before, some businesses find it easier to embed their ads in activity streams, rather than solely creating and marketing content through posts. Sometimes these ads can become a little overwhelming, but most users just accept it.
What most users don’t know is how easy it is to make these ads disappear. A simple click of the top-right icon above the ad post will prompt a few inputs, one of them being “Hide Ad.” Getting rid of ads on Instagram is that simple.
3) See Friend Activity
Scrolling through the activity stream offers up snippets of the lives of followed users, but the line stops there. Some users may be wondering what posts their friends are liking, or which users they’re following. Although the activity stream lacks this information, that isn’t to say Instagram doesn’t have it.
“Clicking on the heart icon at the bottom takes users to a page detailing activity related to their own posts or recent follow requests,” says Alissa Verland, a customer service agent at SocialDrift. “Swiping left takes users to a screen detailing this same activity, except it’s for their followers. Information like ‘which friends have followed which posts they’ve recently liked’ is present here.”
4) User Post Notifications
Influential users can easily develop a fandom of loyal followers, who anxiously await their newest bit of content. On the other end, these users are constantly checking their phones for new posts in their activity stream, resulting in mass wasted time.
An easy workaround is turning on user post notifications. Just enable Instagram to send out a notification whenever a favorite user posts or puts up a new Story, and say goodbye to constantly refreshing the activity stream.
5) Clear Search History
Whether you’re an amateur or veteran Instagram user, you’ve surely noticed that accounts you have previously viewed continue to appear as recommendations whenever you tap the search bar.
Most Instagram users might not want their search history constantly looming in the distance; therefore, the ability to clear search history may be a godsend, whether you’re simply trying to declutter your search bar or attempt to convince others that you aren’t an Internet stalker.
6) Tagged Photo Approval
Most users know the sinking feeling of being tagged in a less than flattering picture. Often compounded by the fact that a close friend posted it, users don’t have many options. However, when faced with such a dilemma, Instagram has just the feature to save the day.
With its tag approval system, users can hide their tag from certain photos, so these posts don’t appear on their profile. And so, tapping settings and selecting “add tags manually” is all you need to do to secure control over what appears on your profile.
7) Liked Post Collection
Have you ever been bored? Like so bored that you stared at your phone, refreshing your Instagram feed every ten seconds for a few hours, hoping that someone will post something new for you to see. Or perhaps, you’ve felt nostalgic and went through all of your thousands of Instagram posts within a day.
Either way, Instagram has a solution for your plights; the app has a built-in feature that allows you to view a collection of every post you’ve ever liked. So, when you run out of recent posts to enjoy or simply develop a yearning for the past, you can easily comfort yourself by browsing some of your favorite posts from way back when.
8) Direct Message Friends
Making friends is almost too easy these days thanks to the plethora of social media networks that exist. In fact, it’s so easy that you probably have more friends — or at least acquaintances — from your social media accounts than you have contacts on your phone. For everyday purposes, SMS texting and iMessage suffice. But, what do you do when you need to contact someone, but you don’t have their number?
That’s where Instagram Direct comes in handy; it allows you to direct message photos, texts, videos, posts, and many other things to fellow Instagram users, exponentially increasing your ability to communicate with people from all around the world.
9) Organizing Filters
Many types of Instagram users exist. There are those who boast zero posts to their name and simply use the service to follow what other people are doing. And there are also people who follow 500 accounts, are followed by over ten times that many users, and have more posts on their account than the number of days its been active.
Yet, one thing common to almost all Instagram users is that they have played with filters before. And in many cases, they have determined which filters they like and which ones they don’t take a fancy to. Luckily, Instagram provides users with the convenient ability to organize filters to their liking. All it takes is to press, hold, and drag the filters around so that you can have the ones you love to use at the front of the list, while hiding the not so great ones in the back of the queue.
We hope you found the promoted post to be as entertaining and informative as we did!
