If you do not like turning your audio on when watching stories from other people, then the caption sticker is a game-changer for you. Caption Stickers convert verbal speech into written words. The feature was first announced on April and roll out in May 2021. You can now continue watching a video on mute and still get the full verbatim of conversations. This feature also helps those who have hearing difficulties.

As a creator/ business, the captions sticker will help you send your message across your audience, even if they mute their audio while watching. Unfortunately, caption stickers were only available for English-speaking countries, but Instagram planned to expand the update by including other languages and countries in the future.

When we go live on Instagram, there are instances when we want to mute our microphones to prevent something embarrassing or confidential from getting broadcasted to our audience. Some of us are uncomfortable with our cameras on but still wish to harness the engaging powers of doing an Instagram live.

Instagram understands people’s hesitations, so the platform decides to roll out a feature to make them more comfortable when going live.

“Have you ever wanted to turn off your video or audio when you’re Live?? now you can. Hopefully, this gives you more flexibility and lessens any pressure to look or sound a certain way during a Live,” Instagram Head Adam Mosseri tweeted.

Reels and Live have become an integral feature for businesses and creators on Instagram. So, it just sounds right to measure insights on these features so users can evaluate their top-performing content.

Now, creators and businesses can track their Reels and Live performance to see which content is gaining most engagement and which are not.

 

Instagram continues its effort to make the platform a safe place. In May 2021, Instagram’s Equity Team (formed in September 2020) took new measures to reduce racial bias by internally launching Machine Learning Model Cards. These model cards pose a series of “equity-oriented questions and considerations” meant to reduce the potential unintended impacts before launching the new technology.

The platform is also trying to be more transparent about posting reach and restrictions to address issues that BIPOC creators are getting suppressed or “shadowbanned” on the platform.

The safety and security of your Instagram account remain the top priorities of the platform. In June 2021, Instagram rolled out the Security Checkup feature, which primarily aims to protect users from malicious and threatening activities on the platform.

Security Checkup serves as a guide and instruction for users to protect their accounts. The checkup includes reviewing your profile information, checking your login activity, updating and setting up account-recovery contact information (like phone number and email), and verifying the accounts using your login data.

Based on Instagram’s research, most people go to the platform to get entertained. Because of this, Instagram now favors recommending video content based on people’s interests.

Video recommendations are now curated based on topics, similar to how Tiktok and Youtube display their feeds. This new feature helps businesses and creators to reach more potential customers and target audiences.