During the F8 developer conference earlier this week, Facebook announced the Instagram new features and product change that will be rolled out over the coming months.
Generally, the updates are geared towards encouraging IG users to post more often and browse content for longer periods of time. If they achieve these objectives this would keep Instagram competitive and convince some of its 2 million monthly advertisers to spend more heavily on ads.
Here are three things users will be able to do once the Instagram new Features and product change are rolled out.
1. Post from third-party apps like Spotify directly to Stories
If you’re a Spotify user you will now able to click a button in the app to share a sticker on Instagram Stories of the song you’re listening to. The Spotify integration is live, with other third-party app partnerships coming at a later date.
2. Video calling for one-on-one or group chats
You can access this feature by tapping on a new camera icon in your direct messaging threads. You can also minimize video calls on your screens to browse while chatting with friends. This is currently being tested and the feature will be rolled out globally “soon.”
3. View content in scrollable categories, laid out horizontally
The new tab, which will roll out over the coming weeks, will feature a horizontal scrollable carousel of buttons sorted by themes, like animals and architecture. You can click into these categories to browse more of the content. Before this, content sorted by categories wasn’t as closely grouped together in the Explore tab, implying the update will likely help save users time in scrolling through Explore to find content they’re interested in.