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tech2 News StaffSep 21, 2018 13:16:19 IST
Instagram has had a busy day on Thursday, with a bunch of new features being announced. Instagram’s Twitter account on 20 September was spamming its followers with some new feature updates. The platform announced GIFs in Direct Messages, and tagging people in videos.
Instagram.
Amid all these features being released and tested, rumours of the repost button on Instagram came up once again. However, according to a report by Mashable, an Instagram spokesperson said that it is not a feature the company is currently building or testing. So, you would have to continue with the third party apps if you want to reshare posts on your feed.
As for the other features, here’s a detailed look at them:
GIFs in Direct Message
Finally moving on from the simple text, and the heart, Instagram now lets you send GIFs on its messaging section.
Introducing GIFs in Instagram Direct. Message your friends with the perfect GIF or send a random one if you like surprises. Happy DMing! pic.twitter.com/uKocwLaQ68
— Instagram (@instagram) September 20, 2018
Basically, now you will see a GIF shortcut on your DMs, right next to the quick reply and image shortcut. There is also a 'random' option you will see when you tap and GIF, which will roll and send just any GIF out of the blue, and it can be very funny sometimes.
The app currently supports GIPHYs, and the feature is being rolled out in phases, with it being rolled out to all in the next few days. It is very likely that the iOS users will first see the feature, and it will eventually then be available for Android users as well. That is usually how Instagram rolls out new features.
Video tags
After testing the feature this week, Instagram is now also rolling out the feature to tag people in a video. Till now, you could only tag people in images, and in video on Stories.
It's here! Now you can tag your friends in the videos you share to feed. pic.twitter.com/NdZ2hLycmz
— Instagram (@instagram) September 19, 2018
As against the usual tags on a picture, where tapping on the image shows the tagged people, in case of the video, you will see a tiny prompt at the bottom left of the image saying ‘tap to view tagged people’, when you tap on that, you are taken to a separate page, which shows you the list of people that have been tagged in the video.
Features in testing
Apart from these, Instagram is apparently also testing an ‘add hashtag’ button with some users, which is expected to rollout soon. This would basically separate the hashtags from captions, and could finally end the clutter at the bottom of a post.
Instagram is testing the ability to add hashtags to posts without including it in the post caption pic.twitter.com/OhQn0xcCuw
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) September 20, 2018
Also discovered by Wong is the ability to choose which locations can see your post or story, where you can select or omit specific countries as you wish.
Instagram is testing geofencing posts and stories.
It allows creators to limit the specific countries where their content will be visible. pic.twitter.com/rRE24BPnkj
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) September 20, 2018
Other than that, there is also a feature in testing that will bring Insta users the ability to share other accounts' Stories Highlights as a sticker in their own story. Till now, you can only do that with other people’s Stories.
Instagram is testing Highlight Stickers for sharing anyone's Highlight Stories pic.twitter.com/PANs34NCb4
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) September 18, 2018
Finally, spotted by WABetaInfo, like Polls and Questions wasn’t enough, Instagram is also testing a quiz stickers for stories, which lets you add three options to a question, of which your followers could choose from.
Instagram is working on a new Quiz Sticker!
Using the Quiz Sticker, you can verify if your followers know the right answer!Note: It will be available in next versions and its appearance may change before the official release. pic.twitter.com/vxckkkPB8J
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) September 18, 2018
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