Instagram chief Adam Mosseri posted an Instagram reel on Tuesday announcing two major changes to Instagram’s platform that will make life significantly easier for users, including scheduled posts and a seamless desktop version of the app. Due to the long public demand for these features, in the video, Mosseri says;
“I call it a ‘final feature’ because it’s one of those things we really should have tackled a long time ago.”
🎉 New Features 🎉
A few “Finally Features” that I think will get you excited…
– Schedule messages (coming soon)
– IG Web Updates pic.twitter.com/5tyMxWh1n8— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) November 8, 2022
The scheduled posts feature aims to help creators and businesses plan their content in advance. With the update, creators will now be able to schedule their posts up to 75 days in advance. The feature is currently available on Android but will soon be available on IOS.
Plan ahead 📅
Creators and business accounts can now schedule posts for up to 75 days.
Available on Android (iOS coming soon) 🤩 pic.twitter.com/kuSbwqCCNR
—Instagram (@instagram) November 8, 2022
The other major announcement is a complete overhaul of Instagram’s website. Currently, the web version does not look like the app version and can be difficult to navigate. To remedy this problem, Instagram is unveiling a new Instagram.com.
“We know a lot of people use the web to multi-task, so we wanted to make Instagram as enjoyable an online experience as possible,” said Mosseri.
The new website is said to be “faster, cleaner and easier to use” and will be designed to be compatible with large screen monitors which have become the new standard for many.
The new design moves menus and icons like home, search, messages and notifications to a side panel. Additionally, the explore/search page displays a full grid covering the entire monitor. The new sidebar expands and collapses depending on what screen you’re on.
In the old web design, when you opened a profile, options like posts, guides, reels, and tags were hosted at the top of the grid. So if you wanted to switch to another tab, you had to scroll up wherever you were. The new design solves this problem by moving these options to the side. This redesign, slowly rolling out to users, will make it easier to use Instagram on large screens while switching between different tabs.
Earlier this month, Instagram announced that it would soon allow select creators to create and sell NFTs directly within the app. Instagram users will be able to purchase NFTs directly in the app. Meta says the process will happen through traditional in-app purchases on iOS and Android. And right now, Instagram isn’t taking a share of revenue from creators. Meta is testing this new feature with a small group of creators in the United States and plans to roll it out to other countries in the future.
Instagram is also adding support for the Solana blockchain and the Phantom wallet, which join the blockchains and wallets which it already supports, including Rainbow, MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Coinbase Wallet, Dapper Wallet, Ethereum, Polygon, and Flow. Additionally, information for certain collections whose metadata has been enriched by OpenSea, such as collection name and descriptions, will now be available on Instagram.
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