Instagram on Wednesday, September 4, announced that it will roll out a new feature called "Comment in Stories" at the Creator Lab Event in India.
It means the users will be able to publicly comment on friends' stories without being taken to their DMs. Unlike comments previously made, which were private, comments with this new feature will be available to everybody. However, only your mutual friends that are or people you follow can comment on your stories.
According to The Verge, Emily Norfolk, an Instagram spokesperson, underlined how this feature can be both flexible and private at the same time. Everyone can turn comments on and off in their stories, depending on how they would like to control who interacts with them. This is another step for Instagram as part of the company’s current strategy to make the platform more interactive but safe for its users.
Instagram is also making it easier to work with carousels, posts that let users swipe between different photos and videos, by increasing the number of photos or videos in one post from 10 to 20. This means that users can convey more in each post. This ability is expected to start rolling out to users worldwide, and will soon be made possible on any account.
The addition of a new commenting feature and increased grid capacity shows that Instagram is interested in taking the user experience to a whole new level while still retaining data privacy. The settings will allow users to customize interactions to keep them within levels they can manage. These updates show the persistence of Instagram in making the site more functional and interactive.
The fact that Instagram is clamping down on data privacy should not come as a shock, because a recent report has just confirmed that our smartphones are spying on us. This report by 404 Media speaks about how with the help of Active Listening software, our smartphones are hearing our conversations via microphones. This technology is leveraged by marketing firms whose clientele includes Google and Meta to collect live data and send targeted ads based on user discussions. Read More