What Does the Future of Artificial Intelligence Mean for Branding?
More than 300 million active users and 80 million photos and videos shared on a daily basis are enough to tell us that the Instagram community is taking some giant strides ahead, giving tough competition to other content-sharing platforms.
Every day, new, improved and innovative content is being uploaded on Instagram.
I mean, there is an account called kayakowithtoshito that takes a hilarious dig at mother-son duo from ‘The Grudge’. Then there is Satiregram and the name itself explains what’s coming your way! And we can never, ever, ever, tire ofGrumpy Cat! Can we?
Having said that, the popular platform recently went through a massive change starting with its logo design which was followed by mixed reactions from the users of the platform.
Below we have listed some of the new updates brought forth by Instagram and what is our take on it…because we know you’ve been waiting on OUR opinion. 🙂
A NEW ICON
As soon as it was launched, Instagram’s new icon became a trending topic on social media.
As this is being written, people are still posting about it:
It will take some time to get over the shock TBH. All we can do is embrace the new flat icon with psychedelic gradient. Yes, we agree that is a bit too ‘flashy’ for our taste, but the skeuomorphic design had to go sooner or later. In case you are wondering how the logo came into existence, check out the official video released by Instagram.
Note: Instagram also changed its icons for – Layout, Hyperlapse and Boomerang.
LONGER VIDEOS
Video marketing is gaining a strong foothold in the content marketing world and there are statistics that prove the fact. Going with the flow, Instagram took a small, but significant step by increasing the length of the videos that are uploaded by its users. So, instead of the earlier ‘blink-it-and-you-miss-it’ videos, users will be able to post videos that are 15-60 seconds long.
Users can shoot the videos directly using the app or upload an existing video from their image galleries. They can choose the post the video by adding filters, mute or keep the audio and also, select the cover photo for the video.
This unprecedented move from the content-sharing app is going to benefit brands. A lot of them have already started using the feature to their advantage by posting relevant videos and connecting to their target audiences. They can also repurpose video content from other apps like Dubsmash or Snapchat.
Take the example of Buzzfeed Tasty on Instagram, which has posted some immensely attractive video content post the update.
VIEWERSHIP
Just because someone has not ‘liked’ your video or left a comment (other than spam), it doesn’t mean that they have not ‘viewed’ your video. This one perennial issue has been tackled by Instagram by introducing a feature, where you can now keep a tab on how many ‘views’ did your video get, irrespective of the likes and comments. Another plus point is the option to follow back the users, who liked your video. We feel that it is a welcome move as it will prove to be useful for brands, who want to keep a track on users, determine the reach and evaluate user-engagement.
NEWS FEED ALGORITHM
Question: Was there something that bothered people more than Instagram’s changed icon?
Answer: Yes. It was the change in Instagram’s news feed algorithm.
While some people were reeling under the shock of Instagram’s drastic change in its icon design, others were miffed by its “enhanced” news feed. The new algorithm brings a lot of changes to the news feed, with the biggest change being the non-chronological order of the posts.
Instagram’s thoughts
“In March, we announced a new way of ordering posts in feed so you’ll see the moments you care about first. Over the past few months, we brought this new way of ordering posts to a portion of the community, and we found that people are liking photos more, commenting more and generally engaging with the community in a more active way.
You’ll likely see this new experience soon if you haven’t already. We’re going to keep improving the experience over time to make Instagram even better. Learn more about how feed works.”
Here’s what people think
This move was to make the best posts from the people and accounts you like to go through often, more visible. Therefore, there is no concept of showing the most ‘recent’ or ‘breaking-newsworthy’ content first on your feed but, posts from the profiles you may have had maximum interaction with in the recent past such as – searching a profile on the search bar, liking or commenting on posts etc. If you do that often on some profiles, then be prepared to be bombarded with their posts first even though what you’d really like to do is ‘keep up with the Kardashians’ on the platform!
Tweaked ads
It has been a while ever since the introduction of advertisements on Instagram news feed. This time, there is a little tweak in Instagram’s photo ads. A tap on any photo add will display a call-to-action. The action oriented format of advertisements doesn’t break new grounds per se. But any step that takes the customers closer to the sales funnel is a welcome step for businesses. They need to configure the ad to reach their goals, which can be – driving maximum traffic to their website or increasing the number of app downloads. This will lead to a win-win situation for the business.
The call-to-action buttons on the ads are being rolled out internationally and we are as eager as you, to use them on the platform.
Comment and DM
The other day, I was scrolling my news feed on Instagram and commented on a post I liked. I tagged a friend in the post only to find that a DM (direct message) had been sent to her. This sounds crazy. But this may actually be a good signal. A lot of people do not use Instagram frequently on a daily basis. If they get a lot of mentions in the posts, they may tend to miss them. With a direct message, they will get see the notification on the top right corner of the app. This compels them to check the post in which they were tagged. There’s no escape!
New additions
Apart from these major twists, the new Instagram updates also include a number of other additions. These include but are not limited to:
These are all the major updates that were rolled out by Instagram recently. What is your take on them? Is it yay or nay for you? Share your opinion with us via comments.
