The popular social media site Instagram has come with another new update. Instagram is testing a new ‘Show All’ feature for stories. Instagram stories are a popular feature used by all to share their daily insights and highlights. The stories are on the feed for 24hours since it’s upload time.
Currently, the user can upload as many stories as they want. So the viewer gets to see all the stories uploaded without skipping them. The new update will let the users watch only the first three stories uploaded. Then, one can click on the ‘Show All’ button to watch more stories. Else the application will take you to another person’s story. This will let users skip the ‘n’ number of stories shared by the users.
In Brazil, an Instagram user, Phill Ricelle, observed the feature and shared a screenshot through Twitter. The screenshot seems to reveal the Instagram Stories layout, alongside a brand new option placed beside the person’s profile photo in the top left corner. Translation reveals that the feature reads ‘Show All. The latest update is available for significant user groups to test the feature before making it accessible to all the users.
Most recently, Instagram has launched a brand new characteristic referred to as Enhanced Tags. The feature will allow customers to credit their creative collaborators in posts and short videos that appear in Feed and Reels on Instagram. Instagram mentions in its post that “this feature will display a creator’s publicly displayed and self-identified profile category.” The categories consist of makeup artist, choreographer, creative director, photographer, and other categories, as displayed within the article’s feature image.
As per some reports, Instagram by Meta is working towards making the Reel creation process easier for the app users.
Only time will tell whether the updates will be a hit or a miss and how easy they will be for users.
Instagram never stops surprising its users with the updates and features it introduces time and again. New filters, background music for a single image or a carousel, reels, close friends for stories, live video, and much more. What started as an image-sharing social networking site has evolved with time and has become a part of our lifestyle. Who would have thought that users could sell their Non Fungible Tokens (NFT) on Instagram.
The NFT integration for Instagram focuses on the term “Digital Collectible” in preference to NFT, given the confusion across the term fungible for plenty of people. The digital collectible Instagram posts will have a “shimmer effect” to allow them to stand out from regular posts in the feed. NFTs will possibly be included in Instagram as standard posts on your Instagram feed. A digital wallet will be connected to let users share digital collectibles and automatically tag the creator and the collector.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Instagram Head Adam Mosseri took to their Instagram handle to explain how and why NFTs will be introduced to Instagram. The reason stated by the company is to let their fans support their favourite creators by purchasing digital collectibles.
“The creator economy is incredibly important to Instagram. But one of the challenging things that we need to solve as an industry is how to help creators make a living doing what they love. Right now there are a number of different ways for creators to make money but a lot of them are unpredictable and changing rapidly. Now we think one really interesting opportunity for a subset of creators is NFTs,” Adam Mosseri, Instagram Head, says.
The pilot release won’t fee customers for posting and sharing an NFT. It isn’t immediately clear whether or not Instagram could support NFT from all four chains at launch. As per the report, Instagram will permit a small organization of NFT lovers based in the US to test the feature.
“We’re starting to test digital collectibles on Instagram so that creators and collectors can display their NFTs,” Zuckerberg told blockchain entrepreneur Tom Bilyeu. The company would be rolling out augmented reality NFTs, which he described as “3D NFTs” and appear as stickers in Instagram Stories, said Zuckerberg.f
Technology can indeed be regarded as the marvel of the 21st century. The dynamic pace at which technology is becoming obsolete and replaced by new technology is commendable. Today, the way people connect and communicate clearly elucidates the fact that communication technology has evolved drastically.
Back in 2006, when Facebook was officially launched in India, it immediately replaced the then social media applications like Orkut. Facebook, followed by WhatsApp and then Instagram, has clearly revolutionized the segment of personal communication. Instagram undeniably is the bearer of the limelight. It allows its users to click pictures, followed by various filters to edit the picture and upload on the same platform.
Two of the most recognized filters of the gram are hyperlapse and boomerang, which are now removed from the apple and google play stores. The primary question that arises is why these filters are removed despite being so much in demand. The answer is that the feature of these applications is being integrated into Instagram itself, thus eliminating the need for standalone applications.
One of the key advantages of integrating these filters in Instagram is that it eases the use. Instead of using two separate applications, one application comes in handy. Second, Instagram possesses more downloads and usage than these two applications combined, thus increasing the more frequent use of these filters. Third, it helps in mainstreaming the images on one platform and hence is eases the hassle of saving images separately on a different application.
Social media giant Facebook is rolling towards a new name to reflect its focus on building the metaverse. The company CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants to focus on building a metaverse and will reveal the new name at the company’s annual Connect conference on October 28th, the Verge reported on Tuesday, but when asked about the confirmation, Facebook said it does not comment on rumours or speculations.
The company might reveal the new name earlier and it will act as a medium where the Menlo Park, California-based firm seeks to be known for more than social media and the scrutiny associated with it. The rebrand would likely position the blue Facebook app as a separate product under a parent company just like Instagram, WhatsApp, Oculus, and more. However, the company spokesperson declined to comment on the story.
Earlier this week, the company announced its plans to create 10,000 new high-skilled positions in the European Union over the next five years to build a so-called metaverse. Also, in the month of July the Facebook CEO stated, “we will effectively transition from people seeing us as primarily being a social media company to being a metaverse company” while talking about building consumer hardware like AR glasses.
What is Metaverse?
The term “Metaverse” was first coined in Snow Crash, a 1992 sci-fi novel by Neal Stephenson. The word is made up of the prefix meta – meaning beyond and the stem verse – a back-formation from the universe and is typically used to describe the concept of a virtual reality version of the internet that Facebook sees as the future.
Metaverse represents a collection of shared online worlds in which people can hang out with friends, colleagues, can visit places, can buy goods and services, and even attend events by converging physically with Augmented Reality, and Virtual Reality. Facebook has already invested heavily in virtual reality and augmented reality and plans to invest $50 million to partner with organizations to responsibly build the metaverse.
The possible new name
Facebook isn’t the first tech company to change its company name, in 2015, Google reorganized entirely under a holding company called Alphabet, to show the world they are not just limited to the search engine. A new possible name could have something on the similar lines with Horizon, a VR gaming platform which rebranded itself to “Horizon Worlds”. The new name will not affect the current products and will continue to act as an umbrella of all brands.
In this age, where we are driven by and on social media entirely, it’s hard to imagine what our lives would be if they got shut even for an hour.
Facebook, Whatsapp, and Instagram are now starting to come back online after a widespread outage that lasted more than six hours on Monday, disrupting communications for more than 3 billion users.
Not being able to post a new photo can be annoying, but it is not catastrophic. But for Whatsapp users, losing the encrypted messaging service is a life-halting change.
WhatsApp being down means calls and messages to friends and family can go unanswered, customer service requests unaddressed, and vital organizing information unattended.
Facebook said in a tweet,
“To the huge community of people and businesses around the world who depend on us: we’re sorry. We’ve been working hard to restore access to our apps and services and are happy to report they are coming back online now. Thank you for bearing with us.”
What Was The Reason For This Outage?
Through a blog post on Monday night, Facebook said that the six-hour outage that took it offline along with Instagram, Messenger, Whatsapp, and OculusVR was the result of a configuration change to its routers — not of a hack or attempt to get at user data.
These explanations, however, do not give many details on the issue. Facebook says that “this disruption to network traffic had a cascading effect on the way our data centers communicate, bringing our services to a halt.”
CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted an apology Monday evening, saying the platforms were coming back online. “Sorry for the disruption today — I know how much you rely on our services to stay connected with the people you care about.”
Outages are nothing new in the world of social media, and servers often experience slowdowns. Facebook’s outage was a bit unusual since it affected all the company’s products, including its central site and, most importantly, Whatsapp, the encrypted messaging service used widely around the world.
On late Monday, a global outage intruded Mark Zuckerberg’s empire of apps, which include WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Oculus VR, and apps that required Facebook login to work. The services of these vital Facebook platforms used by billions of people were down worldwide, including in India, for about 6-long hours. The apps slowly flashed back to life, but it turned out to be the most prolonged outage in the history of Facebook platforms.
Over 3.5 billion people worldwide use Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp to communicate with friends and family, and a large number of people use these platforms to expand and promote their businesses through advertising and outreach. The outage again shows the world how much we’re dependant on social media platforms and how a couple of hours of outage could disrupt our day-to-day lives.
The Reason
The company hasn’t clarified the reason behind the outage yet, but when contacted, a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement, “We’re aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We’re working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience!” A similar official statement arrives from a Facebook and Instagram spokesperson apologizing for the inconvenience.
We’re aware that some people are experiencing issues with WhatsApp at the moment. We’re working to get things back to normal and will send an update here as soon as possible.
The outage could be due to issues related to the server-side, like past outage incidents wherein platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger experienced massive outages. Another reason could be issues related to its Domain Name System records, often referred to as the internet’s phone book, which is where those sites stay live. One of the Twitter users discovered and tweeted, “someone nuked the DNS A and AAA records for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp”.
Meanwhile, taking advantage of the situation, Twitter CEO jokingly asked the same user who revealed the issues related to DNS A and AAA records how much are Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp up for sale? Furthermore, during the 6-hour long outage, people favoured Twitter, Signal, iMessage and others to connect with friends and family members. Facebook and its platforms ultimately restored their services after a team got access to the server computers, but the outage’s cause remained unclear.
With cyber-crimes and hacking incidents on the rise more than ever before, Instagram is rolling out a new security check in the app, which aims to keep users’ Instagram accounts safe and secure. The Facebook-owned social media app will prompt users with previously compromised accounts to update their profile info and settings.
Instagram users were recently exposed to a text scam that put their accounts at risk in the hands of hackers. In April this year, a Facebook data hack even put CEO Mark Zukerberg into a severe cyber threat. In a similar series of events, Twitter was also left to deal with a massive Bitcoin scam last year, where few users had their private messages accessed.
Today, the social media giant announced a security checkup, aiming towards users whose connected email address or phone number was changed recently, resulting from potential hack rather than their actions.
The new Security Checkup feature will guide users through various security steps, including confirming accounts that share login information, reviewing profile information and login activity, and keeping up-to-date recovery contact information. Once the user completes the Security Checkup procedures, the account will be much safer and more protected against future cyber attacks.
Stay Safe
A recent wave of password reset emails has made its way into people’s DMs. These messages claim to be directly from Instagram to get people to share their passwords. Instagram issued a reminder stating that if any user receives direct messages claiming to be from Instagram, it is most likely not them.
“Instagram will never send you a DM: Over the past few months, we’ve seen a rise in malicious accounts DMing people to try and access sensitive information like account passwords. They may tell you that your account is at risk of being banned, that you are violating our policies around intellectual property, or that your photos are being shared elsewhere. These messages are often scams and violate our policies.”
Instead, Instagram says that they will do it via Email if they ever want to reach you. To review authentic communication from Instagram, one can go to the ‘Emails from Instagram’ tabs in their settings.
Hacks and scams are common nowadays, and it is essential to keep your data safe online. One should refrain from putting up useful or personal information on the web as much as one could. Fortunately, social media apps are adding security features to make the user experience more secure.
There is something about cryptocurrency which has always been intriguing, alluring, and still complicates the minds of ordinary souls, hindering mainstream adoption. There is a comparison drawn between when the internet was born and when cryptocurrency was beginning to unfold. Still, the worldwide web was much simpler to comprehend, and its usage and practicality could convince a blacksmith also, and till today the world of
crypto bounces off many foreheads.
We traced the journey of crypto billionaires, who had secured their seats before the crypto flight took off. There are many exciting stories of people who paid for pizza through bitcoins, and today, it’s worth millions. Anyone who had invested $100 in 2009 could be sitting on a Rolls Royce Phantom today parked in his Beverly Hills mansion and still would have millions to spend. It would be worth almost US$ 48 million today. Phew!
If you are done imagining things that could have been done with that much money, let me have your attention back because the train had left the station in 2009. Take solace with folks who bought cryptocurrency and died with their next of kin having no idea about their inherent lost wealth. We have researched well into what happens to cryptocurrency investment when one dies. Turn to page 34 for answers to that.
On another trivia, have you ever observed any 12 or 13-year-old Instagram accounts? They don’t post, only stories. Gen Z uses Instagram as Snapchat. One possible reason is that they are a much larger insecure bunch, insecure from society and their immediate family. Perhaps future technologies and startups can be based on this simple observation and should adjust their products and services to this behavioral change coming up. Maybe your next train to the Beverly Hills mansion?
One of the most searched questions on the internet is can we post pictures on Instagram from the desktop? Earlier, we’re only authorised to view Instagram posts through a desktop website and used to get alternative options as an answer, where we could use third-party tools to create posts on desktops, but now, to do it directly, Instagram is testing on a long-requested functionality of publishing posts through desktop, and soon, we all could post pictures through the desktop as a post, with the help of plus icon.
The new trial feature for the desktop website was first spotted by social media expert Matt Navarra, who shared several screengrabs on his Twitter feed. The screengrabs manifest now we’re allowed to create more on Instagram through the desktop website. Unfortunately, the trial feature is not accessible for everyone, but Instagram could roll it out soon for all the users only if it works smoothly.
— Matt Navarra (I quit X. Follow me on Threads) (@MattNavarra) June 24, 2021
Alongside Matt Navarra, Facebook’s spokesperson Christine Pai has confirmed regarding the test in a statement, “We know that many people access Instagram from their computer, and to improve that experience, we’re now testing the ability to create a Feed post on Instagram with their desktop browser.”
The in-browser experience advances many of the same features which we see on a mobile app: a plus icon to upload a photo as a post, various filters, primary editing tools and an option to choose an aspect ratio where they can choose from Original, Square (1:1), Portrait (4:5), and Landscape (16:9). Along with an option to post pictures, users are also entitled to add a caption, location, tag people, and most of the advanced features like turning off comments, hiding likes-views and more.
When it comes to posting a video through a desktop browser, the process is a little different, where users can select any specific frame from the desired video to put it as a cover or thumbnail. The new feature also offers an option for turning the sound off or on. Instagram has always been slow to implement features, especially on desktop, but the problem is solved now, and now we can post our favourite cat and food pictures on Instagram with the comfort of a desktop.
Are you on Instagram? Of course, you are. Instagram has more than 1.2 billion users worldwide, and that’s nearly 15% of the whole planet’s population. Such a vast audience, right? Amongst all these Instagrammers, 95% of them use the platform as a time-killing app, but have you ever thought that this one app can help you build a promising career?
If you’re in a field that benefits from having an audience, especially if you’re into a creative field like photography, modelling, fitness, cooking, etc, your Instagram feed can become your modern-day portfolio. Instagram is a rapidly growing platform that you cannot ignore as it helps you influence worldwide and gives you the freedom to do something that you always wanted. But how can one grow as a personal brand? Take a deep breath, sit back, and I’ll guide you in brief.
Username:
You only have a few seconds to make a good impression, so knock it off and make a good one. The first thing people will notice is your username, so keep it as short and simple as possible. As you’re a personal brand, it’s a great idea to use your real name, or you can personalize an attractive name that will suit your feed and profession. Whatever it is but don’t complicate your username with any unnecessary symbols or numbers; it’ll help you stand out. Mention what you are, where you are from, and what’s your profession in bio, but in a decent and short text, don’t overdo it, and keep changing over time.
Know Your Audience:
In a world where social media matters more than anything, having the right audience is the key to success. It’s important how you connect with them visually; you have to be clear about what you’re going to add to their daily feed. If you’re into a creative field, then create a specific tone-vibe and use relatable but interesting captions to bring them to you as at the end of the day, they’re going to remember you by your work. The same applies to the rest of the fields; know your audience, know what they’re looking for and create your page accordingly.
Instagram Aesthetic:
What kind of difference do you notice when you visit your favourite Influencers feed and a regular Instagrammer’s feed? Yes, what you’re thinking is absolutely right, the aesthetics, the way they’ve composed their pictures. A well planned Instagram feed can visually convey brands in a second, as it shows how professional and passionate you’re about your work. You can learn how to set the aesthetic just by visiting your favourite profiles, are they bright and lively, or are they following some patterns? Note such things down and decide which one is suitable for you. These little things will not only give you a decent account but also helps you in building a fanbase. If you want to stay ahead of the game, then pre-plan your feed with Later’s Visual Instagram Planner because staying organized is always a great option.
Creative Editing:
The film is made in the editing room, so the Instagram feed. The essence of every art is editing, and learning it is like adding one more feather of art to your portfolio. Adopting the same or set of filters and following the same editing rules will help you keep your photos looking consistent. Adobe Lightroom, Snapseed and VSCO are the most helpful and must learn apps if you plan to level up your Instagram photos and work on aesthetics.
Amongst these, Snapseed and VSCO are pretty easy to use; if you’re looking to edit your images in less than three-four taps, then these two are best, but if you want a more professional look for your pictures, then I would recommend Adobe Lightroom, by far one of the most powerful photo editing tools out there. Also, keep these things in mind while editing your photos on an app, the temperature, brightness, and contrast, maintain these things to keep your feed consistent.
Replying to Comments:
If you have thousands of followers, then it’s not humanly possible to reply to each of them, but if you’re just started or into a developing phase, this will work great. Just a simple thanks will work wonders, even if they’re trolling you.
Hashtags:
Your personal brand is the intention behind your outward-facing interactions with the world, and you might think that with aesthetics and creative editing, you can create a decent fanbase, but what about a worldwide reach? Well, a hashtag is an answer to that. Research on what your fellow Instagrammers are hashtagging, create your hashtag to get noticed quickly, appeal to your audience about using the same hashtags, and add tagged picture stories to make them happy; these little interactions will help you go beyond the boundaries. If you’re looking for a hashtag generator, use Tailwind’s Hashtag Finder, the site will help you with the best hashtags to use for Instagram. Also, if you’re posting some brand-related content, even if it’s non-sponsored, don’t forget to tag the brands; who knows, they might feature or repost you in their next post.
With all these tips, you can have a fair head start over your competition, so don’t wait for the right day; go on, seize the opportunity.
