As the year chugs along, so too do Instagram’s updates. The Facebook-owned visual-centric social media platform is adding a solid handful of new features to both its main Feed and short-form video platform, Reels.
With regards to the former, users will soon be able to post into their main feed directly from the desktop browser version of the platform. This is something users have been clamouring about for a while. Until now, the only way one could post something via their desktop was through Chrome’s developer tools, which you could use to access the mobile interface in-browser.
Instagram gets a desk job
It’s not a particularly hard process to follow, but still significantly more obtuse than a dedicated browser option. This update will roll out starting on the 21st of October.
Also being added to Feeds is a fundraiser feature, which lets you raise funds for various nonprofits through your feed posts. The fundraiser option can be found immediately after hitting the post creation button.
As for Reels, that’s receiving the majority of new bits and pieces.
Firstly, Instagram’s Tik-Tok lookalike is getting a pair of dynamic effects for users’ musically inclined video content: Dynamic Lyrics and Superbeat. The former is pretty simple, displaying 3D lyrics for the track you’ve put over your video in time with its rhythm. The latter is intended to apply relevant special effects to your music-centric videos according to your chosen track’s beat. Both are useful tools for creatives that are set to come out alongside Instagram’s desktop update.
Reels are also getting something called ‘Collabs’, which does exactly what it sounds like it, allowing users to collaborate on Reels and Feed posts. Users can invite other users to appear as collaborators on their posts via the tagging screen of a new post. Should the other user accept, both accounts will appear as creators of the post, which will be shared to their collective followers and will receive a shared like and view count. ‘Collabs’ is coming to the app sometime this week too, though it will start out in a test phase for only a handful of users before becoming available to all.
Source: Tech Crunch