Instagram announced a handful of new features for Stories, including new interactive ways to share music, photos and videos.
The most intriguing new feature is called Reveal, and when applied, blurs the content of a story post. The only way for viewers to see the post is to send a direct message to the person who shared it. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said that direct messages are an increasingly important part of the platform and that stories and DMs account for the bulk of Instagram’s growth. Requiring a DM to view content is the next evolution – and will no doubt be used as an engagement hack by creators hoping to boost engagement on their Stories.
Another feature, Frames, places a Polaroid overlay on images that start gray. When users shake their phone, a photo appears, similar to what many people do with real Polaroid photos. Which is funny, because you’re actually not supposed to shake Polaroids, and the company itself tells people not to do so while film is developing (“We recommend storing the developing photo in a pocket or bag to hide it from bright light”). The Frames feature was first introduced at Coachella in April.
Instagram is also adding a music-based template feature that lets users share songs in their Stories using prompts like “favorite song on album only song for the rest of your life.” Called Add Yours Music, it builds on the existing Stories prompt template for photos.
Instagram has undergone changes intended to improve users’ original content. The biggest change in this direction happened earlier this week, when the company announced that it would make reposted or aggregated content essentially invisible in recommendations, instead of replacing it with the original version of the post. But it’s important to note that content recommended by accounts you don’t follow is taking center stage more than ever — which isn’t exactly comforting news for creators who are upset about not reaching as much of subscribers.
News Source : www.theverge.com
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