Instagram is one of the biggest social media platforms in the world. With over 1,4 billion users worldwide, the guys at Meta (formerly Facebook) have to constantly imagine new ways to keep them engaged and how to attract even more users.
And with TikTok crossing the billion-user mark to start the year, Instagram has been rolling out the updates to secure its spot as the fourth most used social media platform behind Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp.
In this article, we look at the latest Instagram updates and tell you what you need to know about the latest Instagram update in March 2022.
Instagram Update March Madness
The first quarter was a busy one for Instagram. Altogether, Meta released 17 different updates specifically targeted at Instagram and one Meta-wide update to give advertisers a little more power over their ad placements across the Meta social media ecosystem.
Here are the Instagram update highlights from March:
The Instagram feed has a Chronological view, again.
One of the more significant updates from Instagram in March was the return of the chronological order view to feeds.
Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has increasingly faced criticism over how its algorithms present content to users on its platforms ever since the US Presidential elections in 2020.
In December of last year, Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, had to testify before the Senate Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security.
During his testimony, he confirmed that Instagram would bring back the option for users to view their feed in chronological order to limit the influence of the algorithm on what content users see.
In keeping with that commitment, Instagram recently added two new ways to view your feed using Favorites or Following.
The two new options allow you to view content from the accounts you follow and your Favorites, be it friends, family, or anyone else you select, in chronological order.
The downside of the update is that you can’t set a chronological view for your feed by Favorites or Following as the default. So, you have to change the settings each time you open your Instagram or put up with whatever the algorithm feels like showing you.
Kinda seems like Instagram didn’t want to give us this update, right?
Instagram reimagined
Instagram is the go-to platform for sharing images, but Meta has been reimagining what the platform is beyond that.
TikTok’s sharp rise in popularity caused Instagram to pivot strongly to video content, but Instagram aims to reinvent itself beyond that. Instagram plans to position itself as the premier platform for sharing visual content, interests, and talking to friends.
To increase its appeal and utility as a communication platform, Instagram released seven updates to improve its messaging function.
The seven updates include:
The ability to see who’s online
You can now see who’s online and possibly up to chat by looking at the top of your inbox.
Faster post sharing between friends
You can now quickly reshare posts to your close friends by tapping and holding the share button.
Quicker replies from the feed
You can now reply to messages faster, from your feed, without opening your inbox. That means you never have to lose your spot on the timeline again.
Silent messaging
You can now silently message your friends by typing “@Silent” in front of your message. That way, you won’t trigger your friend’s disturbing notification sounds.
This will be particularly useful when your friends are busy, but you still need to let them know something without interrupting them or triggering their Instagram FOMO.
Lo-fi chat vibes
Instagram just added a lo-fi chat theme to amp up the chill vibes in your fire chats.
Group chat polls
Settling your crazy group debates, planning your next hang out, and picking the next designated driver is much easier now that you can send polls in your IG group chat.
Music sharing
You can now send your friends 30-second previews of tracks from your Apple and Amazon playlists. Instagram expects to add Spotify soon.
Massive thanks to Instagram for allowing us all to deliver our friends from the clutches of terrible music taste one song at a time.
Instagram Creator Lab
Instagram is more than a social media platform for connecting with friends and family. For committed creators, it is an opportunity to make a living.
Instagram realizes this, and to help, they’ve launched the Creator Lab, a resource hub packed with helpful videos from successful content creators on how aspiring creators can find their break.
Currently, the hub only has 18 video lessons, each about five minutes long. But, more will be added as Instagram continues to do its best to help the creator community thrive, something which Adam Mosseri says Instagram is committed to doing.
Speaking on the Creator Lab Mosseri says:
“We believe in the importance of the creator community. We believe they’re pushing culture forward, establishing trends, setting new norms.”
Other Instagram Updates to end Q1
Instagram made two other updates in March. The first was part of Instagram’s ongoing pivot to video content and the second was aimed at improving the Instagram experience for deaf and hard-of-hearing users.
The first of the updates was the introduction of the option to create Reels from Story highlights.
You can now create Reels from your story highlights by selecting “Create” in your Story highlight. You can then add and remove images and sync audio to make a Reel.
This update is meant to help Instagram push back against TikTok as the dominant player in the short format video space.
The move makes sense considering Reels is Instagram’s fastest-growing content format and that both Instagram and Facebook users spend the majority of their time on the platforms watching video content.
The other Instagram update from early March was the addition of auto-generated captions in IG Feed videos.
The captions are currently available in 17 languages, and users will have the option to turn them on and off.
This update will also help Instagram keep pace with TikTok which released its auto-captions update in September of last year.
And, that’s it. Those are the latest Instagram updates you should be aware of. There’ll no doubt be more throughout the year so follow us on Twitter and be sure to check out our blog to stay up to date on all things social media awesomeness.
