Watch Out For Several Instagram Updates Late 2018 and Early 2019
Like every social platform, Instagram has seen major changes over time. Some of those changes benefit the user, and some benefit the platform.
The Layout of Your Profile Will be Changing
So some of these changes may be just tests and very subtle in terms of layouts like buttons, icons and navigation between tabs.
Instagram said the grid displaying your photos and videos won’t change, but the icons above the grid could be changing to words. The words that would replace them would be grid, posts, IGTV, and tagged.
Your profile picture could possibly move to the right corner, pushing your username, in larger font, to the top of the page. It looks like your followers and following will be less prominent than before, and the number of posts you’ve made will no longer show at all.
A side-by-side “Follow” and “Message” button may even be tested on profile pages, with possibly even more options being available to business pages.
The statement from Instagram was, “We’ve been working on these changes and will test them in phases and different combinations with our community over the next several weeks. We’ll continue to experiment and update the experience as we learn from your feedback.”
Instagram Cracks Down on Activity it Deems “Inauthentic”
There have been many requests for Instagram to clean up fake activity, and it looks like they’re finally going to start doing something about it. Things like 3rd party management apps that basically put your account on autopilot are one of the things to be targeted. Bots, buying followers, likes, comments, and views are all to be looked at. As some of the activity has to do with being signed in to 3rd party tools, Instagram with vet the account and send the user a notification, as well as a prompt to change your password.
Instagram Is Rolling Out New Shopping Features
Users will have the option to save products to their shopping collection. Users basically will be able to create a virtual wish list. Instagram is also testing a business page redesign where a page’s active products are tagged and can all be viewed by anyone visiting the page.
New IGTV Preview in Stories
Users can now share previews to their favorite IGTV videos in their stories. When it is shared it will link to the full IGTV video and will take visitors there.
No matter what you use Instagram for, be sure to stay up to date on future changes, because many of them will have a direct impact on your behavior on Instagram.
