Instagram has been quite busy these days since in many ways it is the social media platform under the Meta umbrella that people prefer to use and have a more positive impression of than might be the case with Facebook. Hence, it makes sense for the social media platform to make a few updates, and it turns out that there are several that are coming our way, including several updates to Stories which would be good news for people that utilize this immensely popular feature.
One feature that Instagram Stories is getting is straight from Facebook, and it allows you to see a list of people that have seen your Story after you ended up sharing it on Facebook itself. What’s more is that you might not see everyone that has seen your Story. Instead, it’s possible that you will be shown that someone viewed your Story but you can’t see who they are because they have chosen an anonymity option, something that would go over well with a lot of folks for sure, as reported by Alessandro Paluzzi, an app researcher.
Another integration with Stories involves you being able to use stickers while the Stories camera is open. This will help users personalize their Stories a lot more, and it makes sense that Instagram is adding this when you consider the fact that stickers have become such a popular part of the manner in which people communicate with each other online.
Instagram also appears to be pushing Reels even more by allowing users to create playlists of the Reels that they enjoyed. This is interesting because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up promoting Reels content, and with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that the rise of TikTok has made it imperative for Instagram to do all it can to boost Reels as much as it can with all things having been considered and taken into account.
Another useful feature that is now widely available is that of a battery alert. If you are on a call and your battery starts running low, you will get a “This Call Might End” alert similar to what you might have witnessed on WhatsApp calls and the like. That shows that Instagram is trying to import a lot of features from other platforms that come under Meta, something that has been happening for quite some time now.
Perhaps the most important update coming from Instagram is that Threads will be no more, reports Paluzzi. The Threads app was initially intended to allow you to talk to your Instagram friends a lot more quickly, but it didn’t really pick up in popularity all that much. Hence, it is being discontinued and it is likely that Instagram will be refocusing on its flagship which might be one of the reasons why all of these other updates are coming in as well.
All in all, Instagram’s updates are quite widespread, and they are creating a potential change that can improve the platform for all its users. Whether or not this manages to reduce the controversy around Facebook is something that remains to be seen, however, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out.
Read next: Instagram’s creator subscriptions approaching soon, implies the App Store listing
One feature that Instagram Stories is getting is straight from Facebook, and it allows you to see a list of people that have seen your Story after you ended up sharing it on Facebook itself. What’s more is that you might not see everyone that has seen your Story. Instead, it’s possible that you will be shown that someone viewed your Story but you can’t see who they are because they have chosen an anonymity option, something that would go over well with a lot of folks for sure, as reported by Alessandro Paluzzi, an app researcher.
Another integration with Stories involves you being able to use stickers while the Stories camera is open. This will help users personalize their Stories a lot more, and it makes sense that Instagram is adding this when you consider the fact that stickers have become such a popular part of the manner in which people communicate with each other online.
#Instagram is working on the ability to use sticker in the Story camera 👀 pic.twitter.com/cF3EKnYnnr
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) November 9, 2021
Instagram also appears to be pushing Reels even more by allowing users to create playlists of the Reels that they enjoyed. This is interesting because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up promoting Reels content, and with all of that having been said and now out of the way it is important to note that the rise of TikTok has made it imperative for Instagram to do all it can to boost Reels as much as it can with all things having been considered and taken into account.
#Instagram is working on private user-created #reels playlists 👀
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) November 9, 2021
ℹ️ When you save reels in a collection it will become a playlist. Opening it from the "Saved" section will open the Reels player.
ℹ️ These are NOT public playlists created by creators, like #TikTok (for now). pic.twitter.com/fcubaZmMpN
Another useful feature that is now widely available is that of a battery alert. If you are on a call and your battery starts running low, you will get a “This Call Might End” alert similar to what you might have witnessed on WhatsApp calls and the like. That shows that Instagram is trying to import a lot of features from other platforms that come under Meta, something that has been happening for quite some time now.
#Instagram is working on an alert informing you that the battery is low and the call may end soon 👀 pic.twitter.com/tsOnDzWIqY
— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) November 9, 2021
Perhaps the most important update coming from Instagram is that Threads will be no more, reports Paluzzi. The Threads app was initially intended to allow you to talk to your Instagram friends a lot more quickly, but it didn’t really pick up in popularity all that much. Hence, it is being discontinued and it is likely that Instagram will be refocusing on its flagship which might be one of the reasons why all of these other updates are coming in as well.
All in all, Instagram’s updates are quite widespread, and they are creating a potential change that can improve the platform for all its users. Whether or not this manages to reduce the controversy around Facebook is something that remains to be seen, however, and it will be interesting to see how that plays out.
Read next: Instagram’s creator subscriptions approaching soon, implies the App Store listing