In Pics: Top 5 Instagram features - Web notifications, emoji shortcuts and more
Instagram it June announced it passed a billion active users, and unveiled a new long-form video feature in a bid to attract "creators" like those on YouTube. It became the fourth Facebook platform to hit the billion-user mark, including the namesake social network with more than two billion users, and the messaging applications WhatsApp and Messenger.
Facebook acquired Instagram in April 2012 for a combination of cash and stock worth some $1 billion at the time. While Facebook offers no detailed revenue breakdown, eMarketer estimated Instagram will generate $5.48 billion in net US ad revenue this year, up 70.4 percent from last year and accounting for more than one-fourth of Facebook's net mobile ad revenue.
Facebook-owned Instagram has introduced a new feature called ‘Nametag’ which makes it easier to follow people, you meet in real life. The ‘Nametag’ includes your handle as well as your picture. The feature is available globally for both Android and iOS users. To try out Nametag, go to your profile, tap the button with three lines at the top, and select “Nametag.” To scan someone’s Nametag, you can either swipe right into the camera, hover over the Nametag and hold down on your screen, or enter the camera by tapping “Scan a nametag” when viewing your own profile. You can also share your Nametag with friends through text messages and over other platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp. Additionally, users can personalize their Nametag by tapping anywhere on the screen or by tapping the button at the top to try other designs, such as colors, emojis and selfies with different stickers as well.
Instagram Lite and web version on both mobile and desktop will now show notifications. Earlier, the notifications feature was only available on the standard Instagram mobile app. Now, if you access the service on Chrome browser on your mobile or desktop, you will be prompted the option to enable notifications when you get new likes, comments, or followers, Android Police reports. The feature is also available for the less data consuming Instagram Lite app. While it makes for a welcome addition to the Lite version, it doesn't help much when it comes to the desktop version as you can't send DMs or upload videos.
Instagram allows users to send GIFs in Direct Messages. The update is now available for Android and iOS users. The company mentioned in a blog post, “Now you can message your friends with GIFs in Instagram Direct. From “LOL” to “I love you,” you can express yourself in countless visual ways when you’re messaging your friends.” After you type in the search bar, simply tap “random” to send a random GIF associated with what you’ve searched. The trending GIFs will be powered by GIPHY.
Instagram has rolled out an emoji shortcut bar for Android and iOS users which allows for swift reactions to posts. The new shortcut bar is available in a post's comments section. While typing a comment, you will be shown the set of your most-used emoji. Only the most-used emoji will be available in the shortcut bar. If you want to use a new emoji, you will have to sift through the keyboard manually.
Now, you will have new Superzoom effects to add to your Instagram stories. The new set includes a heart-filled fog with music, paparazzi camera flashes, fire with rock music in the background, a big red X, black leaves against a melancholy soundtrack, surprise effect with an evil audio, a TV programme effect and beats effect for those dance stories. The new effects will be available alongside the previous four effects.
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