Photograph — Wired

With about 300 million users, Instagram is undoubtedly the largest photo-sharing app in the world. After Facebook purchased the photo filter app for $1 billion in 2012, the app has continued to hold the interests of its dedicated users, as it’s been viewed as a powerful image editing tool.

In April 2016, Instagram changed its logo, introducing a new icon based on a simple vector backed with an iOS-inspired psychedelic gradient and now the photo sharing app is making several updates, from live video and disappearing content to introducing likes for comments.

The new updates target Instagram Stories and Instagram Direct, allowing for extra functionality.

For Instagram Stories, Instagram Live has been added which is similar to Facebook Live. However, Instagram Live lasts for only one hour.

This update hasn’t arrived for all users, but it’s slowly rolling out, as users will notice it in the explore tab, which will feature curated live video streams.

As for Instagram Direct, Disappearing Photos been added, in a move that is similar to Snapchat.

View Disappearing Photos update below:

You can only send disappearing photos and videos to the people following you or allow all those messages from you. Sending other things via Instagram Direct, such as posts from your feed, will remain visible in the conversation. Also similar to Snapchat, you will be able to see if a screenshot was taken or your message replayed.

As the need for self-expression combines with creating a safe internet community, the photo app also updated its comments section to give users more control. As such, posts will be soon able to stand on their own, as users can control whether followers can comment or not. In addition to this, users will be able to like comments too, using a heart icon next to each comment.

Well, Instagram is going all out to pick interesting pieces from other social media platforms in an effort to keep users interested and happy. It certainly is a big deal for individual users as well as celebrity influencers, but industry insiders are yet to see how the updates will increase consumers’ patronage for products advertised on Instagram.

View “Live” update below:

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