Instagram: New 'Likes' and Comment Control

Instagram announced more changes yesterday, with a range of comment control features that are intended to make the social media platform a “welcoming place for everyone.”

As seen in Tuesday’s blog from Instagram co-founder and CEO, Kevin Systrom, users now have the ability to like individual comments and—as the feature rolls out throughout the week—you may notice that each comment now has a heart next to it.

As Systrom wrote, “Liking lets you show support and encourages positivity throughout the community.”

From a social media marketing point of view, this is a great time-saving and engagement-building feature. Some Instagram comments certainly call for an individual response, especially when it comes to customer service queries. However, when you simply want to acknowledge a comment or show your appreciation to a fellow user, you can now tap the heart icon in much the same way that you’d give the thumbs-up on Facebook, double tap an image or ‘like’ a tweet.

The photo-sharing platform has also introduced a way of turning comments off on any post, allowing the image to stand on its own and removing the opportunity for cyberbullying and offensive remarks. Trolls, zero. Instagram, one.

Users can also now remove followers from their private accounts, without blocking them and without notification. As Systrom added, “In the past, once you approved a follower, there was no simple way to undo that decision without blocking them. Going forward, if your account is private, you can remove followers by going to your list of followers and tapping the … menu next to any person’s name.”

There’s more. Another addition to Instagram comments is the ability to anonymously report self-harm posts—connecting people who may need help with helplines and organizations that can offer support.

Making the internet a more welcoming place, taking on online harassment and adding another way to engage with fellow users, we are all in favor of Instagram’s latest changes.

Released this week, the new features should now be available to you. Engage and enjoy!

Thanks for visiting, Laura and Jenny

Stories: Instagram's Boldest Change Yet?

When we published our last blog post, discussing a huge year of change at Instagram, little did we know that one of the app's biggest releases was just hours away.

In case you haven't heard, Instagram began to roll out Stories last week. It's a new feature that lets users combine images and video, which are then turned into a reel or "story." These stories can be viewed for 24 hours and don't appear in grids or feeds.

It's not just similar to Snapchat, it's a pretty clear knock off of the clip-sharing platform, who introduced their own 10-second storytelling feature in 2013. As reported by TechCrunch's Josh Constine, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom openly admitted that Snapchat "deserve all the credit." 

How to use it? Once you update your app, you'll see a series of circular avatars at the top of your IG homepage. Clips from users that you follow will be ringed with a rainbow, tap their avatar and you'll be able to watch their story. Swipe right to go to the next story and, if you want to skip, swipe left. If you want to direct message another user while viewing their story, swipe up.

Here's some great information about how to post to Stories, thanks to 9to5Mac.com.

While the video and image quality is not as polished as what you see in your profile grid, the ability to add filters, text overlays, emojis and cool neon highlighters (for giving cats laser beam vision, of course...) are fantastic additions to IG's features. As is the fact that you can post all the stories you like and they won't spam other users' feeds.

It's an audacious move, one that reminds us of the Periscope launch that swiftly signaled the demise of Meerkat. Dare we say it, it may even spell the beginning of the end for Snapchat.

One thing is for certain, in this year of transformation, we get the feeling that Instagram are not done yet.