Instagram celebrates 10th birthday with host of feature updates


Instagram is celebrating its 10th birthday with a bunch of product updates and additions to its well-being features.

The Facebook-owned app is giving users a private map and calendar of the stories they have shared in the last three years called ‘Stories Map’. These stories can be shared, downloaded, and save to highlights. Alongside the Stories Map, Instagram will show off its major milestones in a product timeline celebrating the previous decade.

This week will also see the launch of shopping on IGTV, ahead of a test of the shopping feature in Reels later this year, meaning users will be able to buy products from creators more easily across Instagram’s video features. And Instagram may also have a few other surprises in store.

Alongside the celebrations, the app has announced two new features for National Bullying Prevention Month.

Instagram has begun testing a feature that automatically hides comments similar to others that have been reported. These comments can be seen by tapping ‘View Hidden Comments’, but comments that violate the app’s community guidelines will still be removed.

The second feature update is the expansion of Instagram’s nudge warnings, which ask users if they really want to post a comment that may be considered offensive. An additional warning will now be served to people who repeatedly attempt to post potentially offensive comments.

“Instagram’s home was designed at a different moment,” said Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram, in a blog post. “Over the coming months, you’ll see some major changes from us, like tabs for Reels and shopping, and some big improvements to messaging. We’ll look to accelerate ways for creators to make a living and for small businesses to sell their products. Through all these changes, our community will remain the heart of Instagram, and we’ll stay focused on keeping people safe and building new features that fight bullying, improve equity, address fairness, and help people feel supported.”

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