Instagram to introduce shopping directly from the app and other new features

Instagram is soon getting a bunch of new features that include enabling users to shop within the app. The Facebook-owned company is currently testing the feature with select creators and plans to release it soon to the public. At the F8 developers conference, Facebook also announced some  more features currently under testing that would improve user experience on the photo-video sharing platform. 

At the F8 2019, Instagram announced that users would soon be able to shop directly from creators without leaving the app. The feature can be used by just tapping on the post after which users would get details about the product(s) and can buy them directly. The app currently allows creators to add ‘Shopping Tags’ that allow them to tag a particular product which lands the user on the product website upon tapping. With the new shopping feature, users can soon tap on the product and buy it on the spot. 

Creators would not get a part of the purchases revenue but the feature would give them details and analysis that can be shared with brands. "With the ability to tag exactly what they're wearing, creators can get back to expressing themselves and sharing what's on their mind, which will make their followers happy too”, Instagram stated in its blog post. The feature is currently being tested with creators like Kylie Jenner, Laura Kim, Gigi Hadid, Ronnie Feig, etc., and would roll out to all users globally over the period. 

Apart from this, Instagram is also planning to hide the number of likes on a post. Instagram states that hiding the number of likes from followers would relieve them from the pressure which would allow creators to focus on posting more content on their feed. Creators can only see the number of likes their post has received if they tap on the ‘Like’ button. The feature is being tested with a limited number of users in Canada.

The photo-video sharing app is also adding Donation stickers to its Stories. Currently available in the USA, all the donations made would go straight to the non-profit organisation. The feature is expected to roll out to other countries soon.

Lastly, Instagram is introducing Create Mode. The new mode allows users to create an Instagram post that would have a static background on which users can add GIFs, stickers, quiz polls, etc., to interact with their followers.