Instagram – How to Use Instagram
Instagram is a social media site that places a strong emphasis on uploading photos and videos through its mobile app. As long as your account is public, you are able to capture, modify, and post visual content for both followers and non-followers. By sharing, saving, commenting, and liking your material, users may engage with it.
It’s difficult to recall a period before Instagram, with over a billion registered accounts, ranging from small businesses to significant institutions, news outlets to cultural centers, celebrities, photographers, and singers, not to mention the cottage industry of influencers.
So, if you’ve found yourself disconnected from Instagram, continue reading. We’ll offer you a quick introduction to the app’s operation, instructions for getting started, and tips on how to start “gramming” like a pro.
How to register with Instagram
Let’s go over some fundamentals to get you started:
Instagram download instructions
Priorities first to use Instagram, you must download the app. On iOS, Android, and Windows devices, it is totally free.
Although there isn’t an app that is completely optimized for iPads, you can still use IG on your iPad by adjusting your App Store settings to locate the app.
How to open a profile on Instagram
You’ll be asked to either create a new account or check in with your Facebook account when you first start the app.
The procedure is simple if you decide to create a new account; you will need to provide your full name, phone number or email address, preferred username, and password.
A very useful feature if you want to manage distinct accounts for personal and business use is the ability to create — and switch between — numerous Instagram profiles once you have an account.
Present-day Instagram
Even while Instagram is primarily intended for mobile devices, the initially severely constrained desktop experience has significantly improved over time.
Today, you can access Instagram using a web browser on your computer and use it to modify your profile, read your feed, like and comment on posts, and send and receive direct messages.
A very recent upgrade even allows you to publish images and movies using the desktop app.
Create your profile
You should set up your profile after creating your Instagram account. You can view all of your images and videos on your profile page, where you can also see who is following you and who is following you. You may access your settings there as well.
Keeping your username, profile image, and bio up to date is recommended because profile pages are frequently the first thing people look at.
Your profile photo serves as the icon next to your username on the site, and your bio is a place where you may give a brief introduction to your brand or yourself. If appropriate, you might also include a link to your website.
You can edit your profile page at any moment by clicking Edit Profile:
How to use Instagram
Instagram is primarily a social media site, albeit a very visual one. You’ll see a main feed of the most recent posts from the accounts you follow each time you use the app.
A menu bar that can be accessed from anywhere in the app is located at the bottom.
What each button performs is as follows, from left to right:
Home:
Your main feed, where you can browse the images and videos that your friends have posted.
Search and explore:
You may search and browse material from accounts you don’t follow but might be interested in by clicking the magnifying glass symbol to access the Explore tab.
Reels: Short videos (up to 90 seconds long) from individuals you may or may not be following can be found on the Reels page. By moving your finger from the bottom of the screen to the top, you can scroll to the next video.
Shop:
This page contains a collection of Instagram posts that include products you can purchase using the app.
Profile:
This symbol takes you to your profile page, where your bio and recent posts are displayed. You may access your settings there as well.
Instagram is what you make it, just like other social media platforms. The majority of people use Instagram as a combination of voyeurism and self-expression.
Instagram is a crucial marketing tool with unrivaled reach for the entrepreneurial crowd, including business owners, brands, and influencers.
Going back to the basics, Instagram’s basic notion is that you follow accounts that are of interest to you. People then follow you in return.
Your postings can receive “likes” and comments from other users, and vice versa.
How active you are is totally up to you, whether you choose to keep a low profile or develop a following.
Uploading, editing, and posting photos
Tap the big plus sign to share a picture or a video on Instagram (located toward the top-right corner of the screen). You can then choose which images or videos to share from your phone’s camera roll.
You have the option to add a filter to every post, which, depending on who you ask, is either required or not given that so many other photo-editing applications have their own filters.
Editing images with various pre-set visual overlays is made simple by filters. Examples of filters include Mayfair, which gives everything a pink tint, and Willow, which makes everything black and white.
When you choose the filter and then tap it a final time, a slider that controls the filter’s intensity is also displayed.
There are a couple more things you may do when your post is finished and ready to go before you click the share button:
Include a caption Always use captions when possible. Emojis, text, and hashtags are all acceptable. You can also mention friends by putting @ in front of their usernames, just like in the comments.
Remember that you always have the option to alter captions or remove posts.
Tag individuals:
Instagram lets you “tag” individuals in your images. When you tag someone, their activity feed will notify them. In addition to mentioning them in your caption, this is different.
Location tags let other people understand where your photo was shot. You can browse other open postings by clicking on a location tag to get the location feed for that location.
Post to other social networks as well:
Instagram allows you to simultaneously publish a post to other social networks. You can cross-post to Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr by linking your accounts.
Searching for and selecting followers
The magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the app is the greatest place to look for individuals to follow. This will launch the Explore page, where you may browse a feed of posts that Instagram has determined you would be interested in.
The Explore page can also be arranged by topic, which is a fantastic method for finding stuff.
Selecting one of the suggested themes near the top of the screen will enable you to achieve this. Additionally, the page’s search box at the top of the screen allows you to look up users by name.
Instagram functions more like Twitter when it comes to social interaction than it does like Facebook.
Most of the time, you don’t need to wait for the other person to approve your friend request or send them one.
Instagram will make sure that you see other people’s posts in your feed when you follow them. Most of the time, others can always see who you are following and who is following you.
Your followers, however, are limited and unable to observe who is currently following you if you have a private account.
Messages sent and received directly
With Instagram’s direct messaging feature, you can have private conversations with everyone who follows you.
A message that you send to someone who is not a follower of yours will be placed in a separate folder called “message requests.” The other person must acknowledge the message in order to begin the conversation.
Both the desktop website and the app support direct messages.
Tap the paper aircraft icon in your home feed to open your message menu. From there, all of the people you’ve already spoken with will be shown to you.
In the top right corner, you may also tap the camera icon to begin a video chat or the pen and paper icon to start a new conversation.
You can send a variety of messages after you’re engaged in a chat. These consist of standard text messages, animated GIFs, and other things.
In addition, Instagram posts can be shared. Additionally, you have the option to “like” or delete messages that you no longer want to view.
You will only need to ask those who have set their accounts to private to follow you.
You must wait for the user to accept you before you can formally follow them and communicate with them after clicking Follow on a private profile.
Another wonderful approach to finding friends on Instagram is to link your phone’s contacts to the app.
What Instagram offers
As you may anticipate, Instagram frequently introduces new features. Instagram provides many options for artistic expression, from fresh material to a constantly growing selection of tools.
The following are the newest and best Instagram features to know:
Facebook Stories
Instagram Stories are customizable postings that are only visible for 24 hours, and a large portion of users only use the platform for these purposes. These articles, which could include both short films and photographs, are available from the top of the home feed and are shown as slideshows.
Additionally, we truly mean customized when we use the word. Stories showcase a variety of creative components, in contrast to standard posts, which simply have simple filters. These include: o Animated stickers and cartoons
- Surveys and tests
- Catchy song lyrics
- Links to charity and donation websites
The simplest method is to tap your profile icon in the top-left corner of your home feed, however, there are more options.
Then, you have the option of taking a live snapshot or video or selecting one from your phone’s gallery. After that, you can add text, drawings, or any of the other previously stated creative aspects.
Although Stories are intended to disappear after one day, beyond that time they are automatically preserved to your own Archive, which we’ll explain in a moment.
Additionally, you have the option to permanently post Stories for viewers to view at any time on your profile.
Facebook Live
You can livestream, or broadcast live video, from your device to anybody who wants to watch, using the Instagram Live feature.
While you stream, viewers can leave you messages and hearts, which makes it a great method to communicate with all of your fans at once or broadcast an event.
Open Instagram, swipe right in your feed from the options at the bottom of the screen to pick Live and then click Go Live.
From there, you can add a title, choose your audience, and, if you’d like, schedule the live video.
Up to four hours at a time can be spent live; after that, the stream will terminate and you must start over.
Viewer comments are by default visible while you’re streaming but may be turned off with just a few touches.
You’ll be notified whenever someone you follow starts a Livestream. This could result in an ongoing barrage of unnecessary notifications if you follow many individuals.
Fortunately, disabling Instagram Live notifications just takes a few seconds.
Reels
Reels, Instagram’s dedicated video platform, was created as a competitor to TikTok and allows users to upload videos up to 90 seconds long.
A video can be edited, including music, text, and special effects, after it has been recorded. Your Reels movies can be a great approach to gain new subscribers because other users can like or comment on them.
You must tap the symbol in the bottom menu’s center to view someone else’s Reels on the app. It resembles a cross between a play button and a clapperboard. You can watch videos that other people have published here and make your own Reels.
On Instagram, buy
Given Instagram’s widespread use, it’s not surprising that businesses are exerting every effort to convert Instagram users into paying customers. Nearly half of Instagram users claim to shop there once a week.
Instagram advise and techniques
Instagram is easy to use but can be challenging to get the hang of. Here are some of our favorite techniques that aren’t immediately apparent to newcomers.
Plan ahead for posts.
Instagram has grown to be a significant component of almost any company’s online presence, and social media brand managers adore the ability to schedule posts in advance.
Although it does include a native post scheduler, only individuals with professional accounts can use it. However, there are numerous outside applications that can manage the scheduling for you, including Buffer.
Sync videos from Instagram to your phone.
There are a few ways to save Instagram videos if you’ve spotted a fantastic video on the platform that you simply must preserve.
It will only take a few taps to save a video you created to your camera roll if you want to preserve one of your own videos.
You’ll need to record your screen or utilize a third-party app if you’re attempting to preserve someone else’s footage, though.
Post various photo formats.
The editing options were restricted when Instagram originally debuted in 2010. Only square photographs may be posted; all other shapes were either prohibited or would be cropped out.
The laws are a little less strict now. But you might need to make some adjustments in advance if you want to share two popular photo types: panoramas and Live Photos.
If you want to take a panorama photo, you may either zoom out so that it fits in one picture, or you can use a third-party program to divide your images up beforehand.
If you have an iPhone, you must first turn your live photographs into videos before posting them.
Instead of removing posts, archive them
Instagram offers an archive tool in place of deletion if you’re unsure. If you merely want to temporarily conceal a post, this is fantastic.
Open the post, press the three dots in the top-right corner, and then choose Archive. The post will be instantly deleted.
You may quickly and easily access your private Archive after you’ve archived a post.
Note: After they expire, every Story you upload will be automatically saved to your Archive.
Security and privacy
It’s also crucial to customize your privacy and security settings.
Control the audience for your postings.
Instagram gives you the same control over who can see your posts as Facebook does.
Setting your account to “Private” will make it easier for you to manage your online presence.
Only your followers will be able to see your posts and other activity when you set your account to Private. And you’ll need to approve folks before they follow you.
Making a list of Close Friends is another technique to accomplish this. You can make Instagram Stories that only certain individuals can see using the Close Friends feature. This is the best course of action if you want to use Stories to send brief updates to your pals.
Finally, you can establish an age limit on your account if you run a Business account and you don’t want anyone under a specific age to follow you. The minimum age you can choose depends on where you live.
Change the information on your personal account.
You already know that you have the option to change your username at any time. However, you can change other bits of information if you’re not content with how you configured your account.
You are able to modify the email associated with your account with only a few taps.
You can update your Instagram password whenever you wish to ensure the security of your account.
Data backup by downloading
Like the majority of social media platforms, Instagram features a hidden menu that allows you to download all of the content you’ve ever shared on the platform. This includes all of your images, movies, remarks, messages, profile details, and more.
Only Stories that you have posted and let expire without saving are not available for download.
Go to the Settings section of your app, choose your activity, and then click Get Data to download your Instagram data. Once there, complete the form, and you’ll receive an email with your data shortly after.
You can also just view your data in the app if you don’t want to download it all.
Avoid harassment for both yourself and other people.
To make sure that everyone using the app has a good experience and is safe, Instagram has a lengthy list of guidelines. But as with all websites, it’s easy to locate users that disregard these guidelines.
On images and videos, you upload to a public profile, other users can leave comments; however, you can choose to share something privately by turning off comments for that particular post.
You can report a user to Instagram if you ever discover them to be harassing you or someone else.
Although there is no assurance that Instagram will act on the tip, notifying them is preferable to doing nothing.
