Instagram has been on a roll lately. The Meta-owned social networking company continues to add innovative creation tools in recent years, including Boomerangs and Hyperlapse functionality.
On Tuesday, the photo-sharing social network announced two more additions to its feature inventory - Notes and Candid Stories.
Notes are expected to be short posts of up to 60 characters using only text and emojis. Users can leave a Note for friends and followers by visiting the top of their inbox, selecting their followers, or people on the Close Friends list.
The note will appear at the top of an inbox for 24 hours, with replies to posted Notes sliding into the DMs of their creator.
“We’re beginning to roll out Notes, a new way to share your thoughts and see what your friends are up to. During testing, we learned that people liked having a lightweight, easy way to share what’s on their mind and start conversations,” Instagram said, commenting on the feature.
“From asking for recommendations to sharing what they’re up to, Notes give people a casual and spontaneous way to express themselves and connect,” the company added.
The other interesting additions to the platform will offer new functionality to Instagram Stories. The company has said it is testing new features to help people more easily share in “spontaneous ways to help create stronger connections with friends.”
“Since we launched Add Yours in Stories last year, we’ve seen how prompts help inspire people to share in unplanned and creative ways. We’re testing an update to Add Yours where you can invite friends to participate by tapping “pass it on” when you see a prompt that reminds you of them.”
Meanwhile, Instagram’s new Candid Stories functionality is set to become a new way for users to capture and share what they’re doing in a story that’s only visible to those who also share their own.
“Capture a candid from the stories camera, the multi-author story at the top of the feed, or from the daily notification reminder that starts after your first candid.
For those who don’t want to receive the daily notification reminder, you can always turn it off in your Settings. We’re also testing a similar feature on Facebook Stories,” the company said.
The new features come on the tail-end of the company’s announcement to become more transparent to its users.
A newly-launched tool for creators will essentially tell users how their content is distributed, eligibility for recommendation to other users and the explore page and any violations against community guidelines.
IOL Business