What's New to Instagram so far in 2022?
Subscriptions
This update is great news for content creators! According to the CEO of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, “Subscriptions allow creators to monetize and become closer to their followers through exclusive experiences”.
Followers can subscribe to their favorite creators and get access to exclusive content in return for a monthly subscription fee. There are three main features of subscriptions:
1. Creators can choose to go live only to their subscribers
2. Subscribers are marked with a purple badge so the creators can easily see who their subscribers are in comments and direct messages
3. Subscribers can choose to post stories only to their subscribers. These stories feature a purple ring, so subscribers know it is exclusively for them.
Scheduling Live in Instagram Profile
Not only are creators able to schedule their live sessions, but now they can also feature a badge with the information of the scheduled live directly on their profile. This makes the live more visible and accessible to their audience and allows creators to differentiate their Live from their stories.
Followers can also choose to receive notifications when scheduled Lives become available.
Chronological Feed
At the beginning of the year, Instagram began testing a chronological order of the feed. They are allowing three new options that users can choose from to organize their feed. The first one is “Home”, which orders posts based on Instagram’s algorithm and what posts it thinks will be most engaging to the user.
The next option is called “Favorites” and is where posts are shown from the user’s favorite accounts or accounts that they engage with most frequently. The last option is “Following”, which is where posts are ordered chronologically in a list of the accounts followed by the user.
3D Instagram Avatars
Instagram has created an avatar feature similar to the one on Snapchat, where users can customize their virtual look-alike! These avatars allow users to showcase their online user identities!
To create an avatar, go to your Instagram Profile, and hit the icon in the top right of the page to navigate to settings. Once you are in settings, tap on “account” and then on “avatars”.
Instagram then walks you through the process of creating your own avatar, and they give you a multitude of things to customize including face shape and color, body shape, eye shape and color, mouth and nose shape, outfit and head wear, piercings, hair, and hearing devices!
These 3D Avatars can be used as personalized stickers across Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram!