Over the past year, Instagram has made efforts to be more open, while also introducing several new features that are helpful to both producers and their fans. With Notes, Candid Stories, Group Profiles, and Collaborative Collections, Instagram is rounding out the year with features designed to improve cooperation and conversation.
Instagram’s new Notes feature suggests the company is expanding beyond its core photo and video sharing functionality. Letters, numerals, and emoji are all acceptable parts of the maximum 60-character post. It is possible to send private messages to a subset of your followers or Close Friends, which will be displayed at the top of their respective inboxes. The fact that Notes messages expire after a day sets them apart.
Evidently, Candid Stories is Instagram’s attempt to compete with BeReal, a popular 2022 photo-sharing app. You can use Candid to record what’s happening right now, but it’ll only be visible to other people who are doing the same thing. Users will receive a daily reminder from Instagram to snap a Candid, but this may be disabled in the app’s settings.
Instagram’s new Group Profiles feature will make it simpler to broadcast your life with select friends and followers. To keep things private, the new group share function will only show media to group members. Also, the photos and videos you share will have their own profile, distinct from your own. Collaborative Collections, a new feature being tested on the platform that will allow users to store posts in a set with fellow users and friends, is another example of the platform trying out new ways for its users to work together. To play around with, there are a ton of cool new options. Notes, Candid Stories, Group Profiles, and Collaborative Collections are all available to Instagram users who upgrade their app.
