On May 1, at the F8 developer conference in San Jose, Facebook announced several new Instagram features. The social media company hopes that the new features will improve the user experience.
Here are five of the new features on Instagram.
1. Integration With Apps Such As Spotify and GoPro
Effective immediately, users will be able to integrate Instagram with apps like Spotify and GoPro. The new feature allows users to instantly share content from other apps into Instagram stories. This could include part of a song on Spotify, or a video that was originally uploaded to GoPro.
Users don't have to connect Instagram with these other apps in order to share content. The company said that more apps will be integrated with Instagram in the future.
2. A Bully Filter
Cyberbullying is a growing problem across numerous social media platforms. In the past, Instagram combated cyberbullying with a comment filter that was introduced in 2017. Effective immediately, Instagram's new bully filter will hide any language that is intended to torment or oppress a user.
"We are also expanding our policies to guard against bullying young public figures on our platform," Instagram wrote on its blog. "Protecting our youngest community members is crucial to helping them feel comfortable to express who they are and what they care about."
3. New Camera Effects
Facebook has one of the most popular augmented reality platforms in social media, and Instagram users will now finally get access to it. Instagram users will receive specific types of photo filters based on which celebrity accounts are followed. If a user follows Ariana Grande on Instagram, there will be access to filters for the singer's favorite lip colors. Users can also test out filters that their friends are using.
4. Video Chat
Instagram is joining the video chat revolution by adding this feature to its platform. Users will be able to video chat with their friends on Instagram, as long as the friend still accepts direct messages. To initiate the feature, users just need to tap on a new camera icon on the direct messaging thread.
"People use live video to just hang out," Zuckerberg said at the F8 developer conference. "It's amazing how many of these tools are about bringing us together."
5. A Revamped 'Explore' Section
Instagram will finally give its "Explore" section a much-needed makeover. The goal of the makeover is to connect users with hashtags and content that they will like.
In the revamped "Explore" section, users will find popular topics in a scrollable row. Once a user clicks on a topic, they will be able to browse through hashtags related to that topic.
