Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram have a rather unnerving and uncanny way of surfacing ads on products that you talk about with to your friends, to the point where some have floated conspiracy theories that these companies are actually spying on users through their cameras and microphones.
One of the annoying things about Instagram is that it doesn’t support links in captions. This means whenever creators put a link, you’d need to memorize it and type it in yourself. Creators have since had to resort to alternatives, such as putting links in bio, but it’s hardly the most ideal situation.
Facebook has long allowed Instagram users to post Stories on both Instagram and Facebook at the same time in a bid to help build momentum for Facebook Stories. However, the problem is that Instagram Stories shared to Facebook can only be viewed by your Facebook friends and followers, as opposed to Instagram followers.
Many companies these days have social media presences across the major platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. However, finding these businesses usually involves users having to type the name into Instagram to look for them, which is perfectly fine, although we imagine that some users might be too lazy to do so.
Advertising
Facebook owns multiple communications apps. This includes Messenger, WhatsApp, and we suppose to a certain extent, Instagram through the direct messages feature. All of them exist by themselves, but back in 2019, it was suggested that Facebook was trying to find a way to potentially unify them where users could send messages cross-platform.
Instagram recently launched a new feature that’s part of its service called Reels. This is Instagram’s version and answer to TikTok, although given that it is buried within Instagram which is already packed full of features, we imagine that it might be a bit hard for users to find out how to use it.
It is not that hard to create a new social media account. All you would really need is an email address and you’re pretty much good to go. The ease of signing up is designed to make it so that users won’t have to jump through hoops in order to create a social media account, and the more accounts a platform has, the better it looks for their numbers.
At the moment, TikTok’s fate hangs in the balance. US President Donald Trump had previously sought to ban the app outright, but later had a slight change of heart where he gave the app 45 days to seek a buyer from the US to save itself. Last we heard, Microsoft is the forerunner as one of the companies that could acquire them.
Instagram is working on a TikTok competitor in the form of Reels. The app has launched in several markets and is expected to find its way stateside next month. However, will it manage to be as popular as TikTok? While it’s hard to say if it will, it seems that Instagram is doing everything they can to make that happen.
There have been many who have theorized and come up with conspiracy theories that suggests that social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are spying on us and listening to our conversations. How else would they have the ability to display ads for products and services we only just talked about?
Need to fund something on the internet? Maybe to raise money to pay hospital bills? Pay for a lawyer? Gofundme has been pretty much the de facto platform for fundraising causes, but it seems that Instagram now wants in on the action themselves as the company has since announced that they are testing out a similar feature.
Last year Instagram announced a competitor to TikTok in the form of Reels. The feature was launched in several markets but not the US, and the good news is that if you were looking forward to a TikTok alternative, then you will be pleased to learn that Reels will be launching in the US this coming August.
The ability to shop and buy products through Instagram isn’t exactly new. However, the company has announced that they will now be expanding on it, where they will allow more people like creators to sell their products through their Instagram profiles. This will no doubt be a welcome move especially with the pandemic, where some shops are still closed.