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Uploaders can optionally decide to deactivate comments onto a post. In April , Instagram released a Windows 10 Mobile app, after years of demand from Microsoft and the public to release an app for the platform.
On April 30, , the Windows 10 Mobile app was discontinued, though the mobile website remains available as a progressive web application with limited functionality. The app also remains available on Windows 10 computers and tablets. On September 24, , Krieger and Systrom announced in a statement they would be stepping down from Instagram. During Facebook F8 , it was announced that Instagram would, beginning in Canada, pilot the removal of publicly-displayed " like " counts for content posted by other users.
Mosseri stated that this was intended to have users "worry a little bit less about how many likes they're getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about. In August , Instagram also began to pilot the removal of the "Following" tab from the app, which had allowed users to view a feed of the likes and comments made by users they follow. The change was made official in October, with head of product Vishal Shah stating that the feature was underused and that some users were "surprised" when they realized their activity was being surfaced in this manner.
In November , it was reported that Instagram had begun to pilot a new video feature known as "Reels". It is similar in functionality to the Chinese video-sharing service TikTok , with a focus on allowing users to record short videos set to pre-existing sound clips from other posts. Users can upload photographs and short videos, follow other users' feeds, [86] and geotag images with the name of a location.
The feature was removed in September , citing low usage.
Since December , posts can be "saved" into a private area of the app. The move was seen as a way to prevent users from deleting photos that don't garner a desired number of "likes" or are deemed boring, but also as a way to limit the "emergent behavior" of deleting photos, which deprives the service of content.
Since February , up to ten pictures or videos can be included in a single post, with the content appearing as a swipeable carousel.
In April , Instagram launched its version of a portrait mode called "focus mode," which gently blurs the background of a photo or video while keeping the subject in focus when selected. They are either generated automatically using object recognition using existing Facebook technology or manually specified by the uploader. In January , Instagram introduced hashtags to help users discover both photos and each other.
Users on Instagram have created "trends" through hashtags. The trends deemed the most popular on the platform often highlight a specific day of the week to post the material on. Examples of popular trends include SelfieSunday, in which users post a photo of their faces on Sundays; MotivationMonday, in which users post motivational photos on Mondays; TransformationTuesday, in which users post photos highlighting differences from the past to the present; WomanCrushWednesday, in which users post photos of women they have a romantic interest in or view favorably, as well as its ManCrushMonday counterpart centered on men; and ThrowbackThursday, in which users post a photo from their past, highlighting a particular moment.
In December , Instagram began to allow users to follow hashtags, which display relevant highlights of the topic in their feeds. In June , Instagram introduced "Explore", a tab inside the app that displays popular photos, photos taken at nearby locations, and search. Instagram offers a number of photographic filters that users can apply to their images:. In February , Instagram added a "Lux" filter, an effect that "lightens shadows, darkens highlights and increases contrast".
Initially a purely photo-sharing service, Instagram incorporated second video sharing in June Basic functionality is also available within the Instagram app and website. IGTV allows uploads of up to 10 minutes in length with a file size of up to MB, with verified and popular users allowed to upload videos of up to 60 minutes in length with a file size of up to 5. In December , Instagram announced Instagram Direct, a feature that lets users interact through private messaging.
Users who follow each other can send private messages with photos and videos, in contrast to the public-only requirement that was previously in place.
When users receive a private message from someone they don't follow, the message is marked as pending and the user must accept to see it. Users can send a photo to a maximum of 15 people. Additionally, users can now reply to private messages with text, emoji or by clicking on a heart icon. A camera inside Direct lets users take a photo and send it to the recipient without leaving the conversation.
In August , Instagram launched Instagram Stories, a feature that allows users to take photos, add effects and layers, and add them to their Instagram story. Images uploaded to a user's story expire after 24 hours. The media noted the feature's similarities to Snapchat.
You can trace the roots of every feature anyone has in their app, somewhere in the history of technology". Although Systrom acknowledged the criticism as "fair", Recode wrote that "he likened the two social apps' common features to the auto industry: Multiple car companies can coexist, with enough differences among them that they serve different consumer audiences". Systrom further stated that "When we adopted [Stories], we decided that one of the really annoying things about the format is that it just kept going and you couldn't pause it to look at something, you couldn't rewind.
We did all that, we implemented that. They adopted filters because Instagram had filters and a lot of others were trying to adopt filters as well. In November, Instagram added live video functionality to Instagram Stories, allowing users to broadcast themselves live, with the video disappearing immediately after ending.
In January , Instagram launched skippable ads, where five-second photo and second video ads appear in-between different stories. In April , Instagram Stories incorporated augmented reality stickers, a "clone" of Snapchat's functionality. In May , Instagram expanded the augmented reality sticker feature to support face filters, letting users add specific visual features onto their faces.
Later in May, TechCrunch reported about tests of a Location Stories feature in Instagram Stories, where public Stories content at a certain location are compiled and displayed on a business, landmark or place's Instagram page. In June , Instagram revised its live-video functionality to allow users to add their live broadcast to their story for availability in the next 24 hours, or discard the broadcast immediately.
Stories were made available for viewing on Instagram's mobile and desktop websites in late August They appear as circles below the profile picture and biography and are accessible from the desktop website as well. In June , the daily active story users of Instagram had reached million users, and monthly active users had reached 1 billion active users.
Emily White joined Instagram as Director of Business Operations in April [] [] She stated in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in September that the company should be ready to begin selling advertising by September as a way to generate business from a popular entity that had not yet created profit for its parent company. In October , Instagram announced that video and image ads would soon appear in feeds for users in the United States, [] [] with the first image advertisements displaying on November 1, In March , Instagram announced it would implement "carousel ads," allowing advertisers to display multiple images with options for linking to additional content.
In May , Instagram launched new tools for business accounts, including business profiles, analytics and the ability to promote posts as ads.
To access the tools, businesses had to link a corresponding Facebook page. In November , Instagram added the ability for business accounts to add product links directing users to a purchase page or to save them to a "shopping list. Instagram has developed and released three stand-alone apps with specialized functionality. In July , it released Bolt , a messaging app where users click on a friend's profile photo to quickly send an image, with the content disappearing after being seen.
The popularity of Instagram has led to a variety of third-party services designed to integrate with it, including services for creating content to post on the service and generating content from Instagram photos including physical print-outs , analytics, and alternative clients for platforms with insufficient or no official support from Instagram such as in the past, iPads. In November , Instagram announced that effective June 1, , it would end "feed" API access to its platform in order to "maintain control for the community and provide a clear roadmap for developers" and "set up a more sustainable environment built around authentic experiences on the platform", including those oriented towards content creation, publishers, and advertisers.
It was reported that these changes were primarily intended to discourage third-party clients replicating the entire Instagram experience due to increasing monetization of the service , and security reasons such as preventing abuse by automated click farms , and the hijacking of accounts. Following the release in October, Instagram had one million registered users in December In October , Instagram Stories reached million active users, two months after launch.
From June to June , Instagram approximately doubled their number of users.
Ongoing research continues to explore how media content on the platform affects user engagement. Past research has found that media which show peoples' faces receive more 'likes' and comments and that using filters that increase warmth, exposure, and contrast also boosts engagement. The motives for using Instagram among young people are mainly to look at posts, particularly for the sake of social interactions and recreation. In contrast, the level of agreement expressed in creating Instagram posts was lower, which demonstrates that Instagram's emphasis on visual communication is widely accepted by young people in social communication.
In May , a survey conducted by the United Kingdom's Royal Society for Public Health , featuring 1, people aged 14—24, asking them to rate social media platforms depending on anxiety, depression, loneliness, bullying and body image, concluded that Instagram was the "worst for young mental health". Some have suggested it may contribute to digital dependence , whist this same survey noticed its positive effects, including self-expression, self-identity, and community building.
In response to the survey, Instagram stated that "Keeping Instagram a safe and supportive place for young people was a top priority". If some of the accounts violate Instagram's community guidelines, it will take action, which could include banning them. In , researchers from Harvard University and University of Vermont demonstrated a machine learning tool that successfully outperformed general practitioners' diagnostic success rate for depression.
The tool used color analysis, metadata components, and face detection of users' feeds. In response to abusive and negative comments on users' photos, Instagram has made efforts to give users more control over their posts and accompanying comments field. In July , it announced that users would be able to turn off comments for their posts, as well as control the language used in comments by inputting words they consider offensive, which will ban applicable comments from showing up.
In September , the company announced that public users would be able to limit who can comment on their content, such as only their followers or people they follow. At the same time, it updated its automated comment filter to support additional languages. In June , Instagram announced that it would automatically attempt to filter offensive, harassing, and "spammy" comments by default. The system is built using a Facebook-developed deep learning algorithm known as DeepText first implemented on the social network to detect spam comments , which utilizes natural-language processing techniques, and can also filter by user-specified keywords.
In July , the service announced that it would introduce a system to proactively detect problematic comments and encourage the user to reconsider their comment, as well as allowing users the ability to "restrict" others' abilities to communicate with them, citing that younger users felt the existing block system was too much of an escalation. According to a Facebook spokesperson, on 11 January , Instagram and its parent company Facebook are picking up posts "that voice support for slain Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani to comply with US sanctions".
Instagram has been the subject of criticism due to users publishing images of drugs they are selling on the platform. In , the BBC discovered that users, mostly located in the United States, were posting images of drugs they were selling, attaching specific hashtags, and then completing transactions via instant messaging applications such as WhatsApp.
Corresponding hashtags have been blocked as part of the company's response and a spokesperson engaged with the BBC explained: [] []. Instagram has a clear set of rules about what is and isn't allowed on the site. We encourage people who come across illegal or inappropriate content to report it to us using the built-in reporting tools next to every photo, video or comment, so we can take action. People can't buy things on Instagram, we are simply a place where people share photos and videos.