IG is 14! Instagram launch anniversary
3 innovation and digital news in 1 minute. Every Monday. Episode 400
New in October — teen accounts
Instagram adds new features to protect teen users. Interactions with unknown adults are limited by default privacy settings. Notifications when they spend more than one hour on the app. Safety tools include limiting who can comment on posts and controlling who can tag or mention their account. Opinion: Addressing growing concerns about social media and impact on mental health. For Instagram peace-of-mind, real effectiveness will depend on how teens and parents engage with these tools.
Global roll-out, especially advertised in UK.
Micro interactions, latest update discovered on Instagram channels
We’ve been following the Instagram channels like IG Updates (no news since March 2024) and the main Meta Channel where mainly Zuck makes announcements. The latest one about Instagram is the new feature of commenting on a story. Opinion: Stories, not an invention of Instagram, but a copy of Snap. We tend to forget this. Commenting on a story is indispensable, a great new feature. Representing what we call “Micro interactions”, a major trend in interface and social media.
Which channel do you follow?
Virtual avatars for creators
At Meta Connect 2024, Meta revealed updated virtual avatars for creators. Creators can now create realistic digital versions of themselves. While so far only text interactions were possible, avatars now have video conversations with fans across Messenger, Instagram, WhatsApp. New avatars feature better facial expressions, varied body shapes, more customisation options. Opinion: In 2024, companies made huge progress with the development of avatars. Still the adoption of video calling with virtual clones as a new habit is yet to be seen. While companies like Synthesia and HeyGen have similar or even better products, it is an interesting twist that Meta only targets creators for it.
An add-on to scale their interactions with audiences. Second generation Avatars, not available in EU.
